MalwareEducationEducationRansomwareExtortion DemandSupply Chain (3P Vendor)Data ExfiltratedData EncryptedRansom DemandedRansom PaidCustomer Data InvolvedIdentity (basic)Government IDMediumContained

Georgia Southern University

bd_14893e273448a9e5 · schema v1 · pii pii-v1

Severity

Medium

Discovered

Jul 16, 2020

Filed

Oct 13, 2020

To disclose

13 weeks

Affected

74state residents only

Linked

10 filings

Confidence

66%

Full breach record for Georgia Southern University →3 incidents on file

Georgia Southern University notified NH AG of a ransomware attack on third-party vendor Blackbaud. Unauthorized access occurred Feb 7 - May 20, 2020. Backup files containing names and SSNs of 74 NH residents were exfiltrated. Blackbaud paid ransom and confirmed data destruction. GSU notified residents on Oct 9, 2020, offering 1-year credit monitoring.

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Incident timeline

undetected · 160 days

discovery → filing · 13 weeks / 89 days

Feb 7, 2020

Begins

Jul 16, 2020

Discovered

Oct 13, 2020

Filed

This filing is one of 10 filings about the same incident.View merged incident

Part of BLACKBAUD, INC. supply-chain incident (2020) — a supply-chain cascade affecting multiple organizations.View cascade →

Linked disclosures

Why this link?

Regulatory filings (9) · sorted by filing gap

South Carolina State AGbd_e126591bdb34b0492020-10-13Verified by operator
Montana State AGbd_08fddc3824e7df362020-10-09 · +4dVerified by operator
Massachusetts State AGbd_9a1d3bde30c054cc2020-10-09 · +4dVerified
Maine State AGbd_a34a40eec8e52e7d2020-10-09 · +4dCandidate

Show 5 more filings ↓up to 34d gap

Indiana State AGbd_ba25f36a52d8f4522020-10-09 · +4dVerified
California State AGbd_fefe1ef75864e2942020-10-09 · +4dVerified
Maine State AGbd_c85b3a4945e51a3f2020-11-13 · +31dVerified
Washington State AGbd_ff4ac37fb94907932020-11-13 · +31dVerified
New Hampshire State AGbd_a9bad9f070b99de62020-11-16 · +34dVerified

Name: Georgia Southern University
norm: georgia southern university

Name: Georgia Southern University
norm: georgia southern university
Industry: Educationllm

Discovered: Jul 16, 2020
Breach occurred: Feb 7, 2020 – May 20, 2020
Undetected for: 160 daysoccurrence → discovery
Materiality determined: —
Notification sent: Oct 9, 2020
Affected individuals: 74state-resident count only
Data types: Identity (basic)Government ID
Attack vector: Ransomware
MITRE ATT&CK: T1486 Data Encrypted for ImpactT1041 Exfiltration Over C2 Channel
Threat actor: ExternalFinancial
Regulator citations: Notified Attorney General Gordon MacDonald

During the incident: Conducted its own investigation of the Blackbaud services used by Georgia Southern University
Providing written notice to the New Hampshire residents by mailing letters
Offering all New Hampshire residents a complimentary, one-year membership to credit monitoring and identity theft prevention services
Established a dedicated phone number where the individuals may obtain more information
Removing all Social Security numbers from the Blackbaud database
Taking additional steps with Blackbaud to better ensure that any sensitive or personal information is encrypted
Changes made: Blackbaud identified and fixed the vulnerability associated with this incident
Blackbaud implemented several changes that will better protect data
Blackbaud undertaking additional efforts to improve the security of its environment through enhancements to access management, network segmentation, and deployment of additional endpoint and network-based platforms
Georgia Southern University removing all Social Security numbers from the Blackbaud database
Georgia Southern University taking additional steps with Blackbaud to better ensure that any sensitive or personal information is encrypted
Source: Quoted from the filing itself, not independently verified.

Time to disclose: 13 weeks(89 days from discovery to filing)
Compliance flags: — (clock not assessable for this source)

Status: No extraction artifact recorded for this disclosure.

Filing propagation · 10 filings · 8 states

View merged incident ↗

Montana State AGOct 9 · first

Massachusetts State AGOct 9 · first

Maine State AGOct 9 · first

Indiana State AGOct 9 · first

California State AGOct 9 · first

South Carolina State AG+4d

New Hampshire State AG+4d · this page

Maine State AG+35d

Washington State AG+35d

New Hampshire State AG+38d

Pattern: first filing Oct 9 (MT), last Nov 16 (NH) — a 38-day rolling notification. Rolling spreads often mean counsel is filing as thresholds trip per state. Why this link?

Evidence ladder

Leak-site claim

Attacker assertion only. Establishes: claim date, group, alleged victim.

Press / market report

Unlocks: incident narrative, operational impact. Still no compliance clock.

State AG / regulator filingThis record

Unlocks: discovery date, data types, affected count, compliance clock.

SEC 8-K / victim statement

Unlocks: materiality, stated response, full audit trail. Ceiling removed.

Source URL: https://mm.nh.gov/files/uploads/doj/remote-docs/georgia-southern-university-20201013.pdf
DisclosureLens links to the originating regulator URL — full filing bodies are not redistributed from public surfaces (§4.5).
Filed at: Oct 13, 2020
Raw hash: d070b53aff383b83a1ec1017a306947d4d915ce1ba194accd4b96247c4301ae1

Linked disclosures

Regulatory filings (9) · sorted by filing gap

Reporting entityGeorgia Southern University

Victim entityGeorgia Southern University

Incidentdiscovered Jul 16, 2020

Stated responseConducted its own investigation of the Blackbaud services used by Georgia Southern University

Complianceclock not assessable

Extraction provenanceno artifact recorded

Source provenancemm.nh.gov