HackingEducationEducationStolen CredentialsCapture Stored DataSupply Chain (3P Vendor)Data ExfiltratedCustomer Data InvolvedIdentity (basic)Government IDFinancial accountMediumActive

Averett University

bd_36a16f2812dd30c0 · schema v1 · pii pii-v1

Severity

Medium

Discovered

Mar 20, 2020

Filed

Apr 30, 2020

To disclose

6 weeks

Affected

1state residents only

Linked

2 filings

Confidence

66%

Full breach record for Averett University →

Averett University notified the NH Attorney General of a data breach involving its third-party payroll vendor, PaperlessPay. An unauthorized individual accessed PaperlessPay's SQL server on Feb 18, 2020, potentially exposing employee SSNs, names, addresses, and bank account info. One NH resident was notified on April 30, 2020, and offered 2 years of credit monitoring. DHS and FBI are investigating.

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Incident timeline

undetected · 31 days

discovery → filing · 6 weeks / 41 days

Feb 18, 2020

Begins

Mar 20, 2020

Discovered

Apr 30, 2020

Filed

vs. sector median

3 wks faster

This filing is one of 2 about the same incident.View merged incident

Part of PaperlessPay Corporation supply-chain incident (2020) — a supply-chain cascade affecting multiple organizations.View cascade →

Linked disclosures

Why this link?

Regulatory filings (1) · sorted by filing gap

Massachusetts State AGbd_795d6eb85adf39662020-04-30Verified

Name: Averett University
norm: averett university

Name: Averett University
norm: averett university
Industry: Educationllm

Discovered: Mar 20, 2020
Breach occurred: Feb 18, 2020
Undetected for: 31 daysoccurrence → discovery
Materiality determined: —
Notification sent: Apr 30, 2020
Affected individuals: 1state-resident count only
Data types: Identity (basic)Government IDFinancial account
Attack vector: Third-Party / Supply Chain
MITRE ATT&CK: T1190 Exploit Public-Facing ApplicationT1078 Valid AccountsT1119 Automated Collection
Threat actor: ExternalFinancial
Regulator citations: Notified Department of Homeland Security (DHS)Cooperated with Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI)
Initial access: exploit_public_facing

During the incident: Engaged forensic investigation firm (Ankura)
Cooperated with DHS and FBI investigation
Secured TransUnion to provide identity monitoring
Notified affected individuals via letter
Changes made: Rebuilt domain controller, web server, and SQL server from scratch
Restored database files from backups
Assigned new IP addresses to servers
Changed all passwords for users and administrators
Implemented mandatory password change on first login
Disabled all remote access capabilities to web and SQL servers
Installed Carbon Black EDR application
Source: Quoted from the filing itself, not independently verified.

Time to disclose: 6 weeks(41 days from discovery to filing)
Compliance flags: — (clock not assessable for this source)

Status: No extraction artifact recorded for this disclosure.

Filing propagation · 2 filings · 2 states

View merged incident ↗

Massachusetts State AGApr 30 · first

New Hampshire State AGApr 30 · first · this page

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/averett-university-20200430.pdf
DisclosureLens links to the originating regulator URL — full filing bodies are not redistributed from public surfaces (§4.5).
Filed at: Apr 30, 2020
Raw hash: 1a3afb0b92b6c9eb9a77ea32cd9164fce43bfc28489cfe5152a4ca21f2c2f288

Linked disclosures

Regulatory filings (1) · sorted by filing gap

Reporting entityAverett University

Victim entityAverett University

Incidentdiscovered Mar 20, 2020

Stated responseEngaged forensic investigation firm (Ankura)

Complianceclock not assessable

Extraction provenanceno artifact recorded

Source provenancemm.nh.gov