HackingGovernmentGovernmentStolen CredentialsCustomer Data InvolvedDelayed DiscoveryIdentity (basic)Government IDFinancial accountHealth (basic)PIIMediumContained

California Statewide Automated Welfare System

bd_1ef7d6091fca04e6 · schema v1 · pii pii-v1

Severity

Medium

Discovered

Feb 9, 2024

Filed

Apr 5, 2024

To disclose

8 weeks

Affected

Not disclosed

Confidence

65%

Full breach record for California Statewide Automated Welfare System →

BenefitsCal (California Statewide Automated Welfare System) disclosed that an unauthorized party accessed user accounts using reused passwords obtained from other websites. The incident occurred between March 1, 2023, and February 13, 2024, and was discovered on February 9, 2024. Affected data included names, addresses, SSNs, EBT card numbers, and Medi-Cal IDs. BenefitsCal temporarily inactivated accounts, enforced multi-factor authentication, and reissued EBT cards.

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California clockDiscovered Feb 9, 2024 → Notified Mar 26, 202446d ✓ CA 60-day OK8 weeks discovery → filing

Incident timeline

undetected · 345 days

discovery → filing · 8 weeks / 56 days

Mar 1, 2023

Begins

Feb 9, 2024

Discovered

Apr 5, 2024

Filed

vs. sector median

3 wks faster

Tracked as a single-filing incident — the only disclosure on record for this event so far.ConfirmedView incident

Name: California Statewide Automated Welfare System
norm: california statewide automated welfare system

Name: California Statewide Automated Welfare System
norm: california statewide automated welfare system
Industry: Governmentllm

Discovered: Feb 9, 2024
Breach occurred: Mar 1, 2023 – Feb 13, 2024
Undetected for: 345 daysoccurrence → discovery
Materiality determined: —
Notification sent: Mar 26, 2024
Affected individuals: Not disclosed
Data types: Identity (basic)Government IDFinancial accountHealth (basic)PII
Data elements: Social Security numberDate of birth
Attack vector: Unauthorized Access
MITRE ATT&CK: T1078 Valid AccountsT1114 Email Collection
Threat actor: External
Initial access: valid_credentials

During the incident: Temporarily inactivating your account
Requiring you to provide not just your password but confirm that you are the one asking to access the account through either your email or your phone number when logging in
Reissued your EBT card if you have one
Added other security changes to reduce the risk of a someone potentially accessing information that is not allowed
Changes made: Change the passwords used on your online accounts
Use a unique password for each online account
Activate multi-factor authentication whenever possible
Be wary of emails or phone calls asking you for personal information, especially passwords or one time passcodes
Regularly check your accounts for to see if there may be activities that are not yours
Regularly review and update the security settings on your email and phone accounts
Monitor Your Accounts
Watch out for incidents of identity theft and fraud by regularly reviewing your credit reports for activity that doesn’t look right
Place a credit freeze on your credit file with each of the three credit bureaus at no cost to yourself
Place a fraud alert on your credit file
Source: Quoted from the filing itself, not independently verified.

Time to disclose: 8 weeks(56 days from discovery to filing)
Compliance flags: CA 60-day OK · 46d
Discovery-date grounding: letter-groundedThe discovery date is the detection date narrated in the notification letter — the defensible tier.
Clock breakdown: Statute Window Elapsed Threshold Status
California
Discovered: Feb 9, 2024
→ Notified: Mar 26, 2024
46d 60 days (analyst band, pre-2026 discoveries) CA 60-day OK

Statute	Window	Elapsed	Threshold	Status
California	Discovered: Feb 9, 2024 → Notified: Mar 26, 2024	46d	60 days (analyst band, pre-2026 discoveries)	CA 60-day OK

Status: No extraction artifact recorded for this disclosure.

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://oag.ca.gov/ecrime/databreach/reports/sb24-583547
DisclosureLens links to the originating regulator URL — full filing bodies are not redistributed from public surfaces (§4.5).
Filed at: Apr 5, 2024
Raw hash: f8eab1ff52b1c11dde97137ccffbf3c0bccac3d8283a940334387c0dfd1b1ec4

Reporting entityCalifornia Statewide Automated Welfare System

Victim entityCalifornia Statewide Automated Welfare System

Incidentdiscovered Feb 9, 2024

Stated responseTemporarily inactivating your account

ComplianceCA 60-day OK

Extraction provenanceno artifact recorded

Source provenanceoag.ca.gov