MalwareEducationEducationRansomwareSupply Chain (3P Vendor)Data ExfiltratedData EncryptedCustomer Data InvolvedIdentity (basic)Government IDHighContained

Vermont Student Assistance Corporation

bd_234aa8a01aad8022 · schema v1 · pii pii-v1

Severity

High

Discovered

Jul 16, 2020

Filed

Sep 8, 2020

To disclose

8 weeks

Affected

1,017state residents only

Linked

7 filings

Confidence

65%

Full breach record for Vermont Student Assistance Corporation →2 incidents on file

Vermont Student Assistance Corporation (VSAC) notified the NH AG of a data event involving its third-party vendor Blackbaud. Blackbaud experienced a ransomware incident in May 2020, resulting in system encryption and data exfiltration. VSAC determined that names and Social Security numbers of 1,017 NH residents were potentially affected. VSAC offered 12 months of credit monitoring and established a call center.

J jump to incidentP pin to compareR raw source

Incident timeline

undetected · 160 days

discovery → filing · 8 weeks / 54 days

Feb 7, 2020

Begins

Jul 16, 2020

Discovered

Sep 8, 2020

Filed

This filing is one of 7 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 (6) · sorted by filing gap

Indiana State AGbd_71e4dd920ac5fc822020-09-04 · +4dVerified
Massachusetts State AGbd_9c0dafe3199fe92a2020-09-04 · +4dVerified
California State AGbd_bca2d0e8282fb4bc2020-09-04 · +4dCandidate
California State AGbd_08c27a98ee1b1bf42020-09-25 · +17dVerified

Show 2 more filings ↓up to 26d gap

Maine State AGbd_2c1946e3a02b43172020-09-25 · +17dCandidate
Montana State AGbd_79f77c4712b371812020-10-04 · +26dVerified by operator

Name: Mullen Coughlin LLC
norm: mullen coughlin

Name: Vermont Student Assistance Corporation
norm: vermont student assistance
Industry: Educationllm

Discovered: Jul 16, 2020
Breach occurred: Feb 7, 2020 – May 20, 2020
Undetected for: 160 daysoccurrence → discovery
Materiality determined: —
Notification sent: Sep 4, 2020
Affected individuals: 1,017state-resident count only
Data types: Identity (basic)Government ID
Data elements: Social Security number
Attack vector: Third-Party / Supply Chain
MITRE ATT&CK: T1486 Data Encrypted for ImpactT1041 Exfiltration Over C2 Channel
Threat actor: ExternalFinancial
Regulator citations: Notified Office of the New Hampshire Attorney General
Initial access: supply_chain

During the incident: Commenced an investigation to better understand the nature and scope of the incident
Working with Blackbaud to evaluate additional measures and safeguards
Offered complimentary access to 12 months of credit monitoring services through Experian
Established a dedicated call center for potentially affected individuals
Providing impacted individuals with guidance on how to better protect against identity theft and fraud
Notifying state and federal regulators
Changes made: Reviewing existing policies and procedures regarding third-party vendors
Working with Blackbaud to evaluate additional measures and safeguards to protect against this type of incident in the future
Source: Quoted from the filing itself, not independently verified.

Time to disclose: 8 weeks(54 days from discovery to filing)
Compliance flags: — (clock not assessable for this source)

Status: No extraction artifact recorded for this disclosure.

Filing propagation · 7 filings · 6 states

View merged incident ↗

Indiana State AGSep 4 · first

Massachusetts State AGSep 4 · first

California State AGSep 4 · first

New Hampshire State AG+4d · this page

California State AG+21d

Maine State AG+21d

Montana State AG+30d

Pattern: first filing Sep 4 (IN), last Oct 4 (MT) — a 30-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/vermont-student-assistance-20200908.pdf
DisclosureLens links to the originating regulator URL — full filing bodies are not redistributed from public surfaces (§4.5).
Filed at: Sep 8, 2020
Raw hash: 3b6edc648c526d8fa2b47255a5cf90bac1d655663d2fd319ad298859a9604b43

Linked disclosures

Regulatory filings (6) · sorted by filing gap

Reporting entityMullen Coughlin LLC

Victim entityVermont Student Assistance Corporation

Incidentdiscovered Jul 16, 2020

Stated responseCommenced an investigation to better understand the nature and scope of the incident

Complianceclock not assessable

Extraction provenanceno artifact recorded

Source provenancemm.nh.gov