HackingEducationEducationStolen CredentialsCustomer Data InvolvedEmployee Data InvolvedData ExfiltratedTargetedEducationIdentity (basic)Government IDPIIHighActive

Eastern Washington University

bd_4a3ac35f5734c5e6 · schema v1 · pii pii-v1

Severity

High

Discovered

Dec 2, 2024

Filed

Dec 31, 2024

To disclose

29 days

Affected

11,000state residents only

Confidence

69%

Full breach record for Eastern Washington University →

Eastern Washington University notified the Washington AG of a breach involving student and employee records (SSNs, DOBs) from 1997-2006. An external actor used stolen credentials of a student employee to access a shared HR Google Drive and delete data on Nov 28, 2024. EWU detected the breach on Dec 2, 2024, reset credentials, and began notifying ~11,000 affected individuals starting Dec 16, 2024. The investigation remains active.

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Washington clock✓ WA AG ≤30d29 days discovery → filing

⚠ AG web formThe discovery date came from the AG web-form field, which is systematically later than the detection date stated in the letter. Treat the clock as indicative.

Incident timeline

undetected · 4 days

discovery → filing · 29 days

Nov 28, 2024

Begins

Dec 2, 2024

Discovered

Dec 31, 2024

Filed

vs. sector median

4 wks faster

Tracked as a single-filing incident — the only disclosure on record for this event so far.Confirmed11,000 affectedView incident

Name: Eastern Washington University
norm: eastern washington university
Domain: ewu.edu
Industry: Education

Name: Eastern Washington University
norm: eastern washington university
Domain: ewu.edu
Industry: Education
Industry: Educationllm

Discovered: Dec 2, 2024
Breach occurred: Nov 28, 2024 – Dec 2, 2024
Undetected for: 4 daysoccurrence → discovery
Materiality determined: —
Notification sent: Dec 16, 2024
Affected individuals: 11,000state-resident count only
Data types: Identity (basic)Government IDPII
Data elements: NameSocial Security numberDate of birthStudent ID number
WA-stated cause: Theft or Mistake
WA-stated duration: lifecycle 1-99dexposure 1-99d
WA-stated discovery: Found while ongoingContained same day
Attack vector: Unauthorized Access
MITRE ATT&CK: T1078 Valid AccountsT1052 Exfiltration Over Physical Medium
Threat actor: ExternalFinancial
Regulator citations: Submitted via data breach notification form to Washington State Attorney General’s Office
Initial access: valid_credentials

During the incident: Immediately reset the student employee’s passwords
Restored the deleted information
Began reconstructing the deleted information
Changed group access credentials for the Google Drive folder
Sent notification to the individuals whose social security numbers were involved
Issued a media release to provide substitute notice
Offering identity theft protection services through ID X
Changes made: Continually modifying our systems and practices to enhance the security of sensitive information
Source: Quoted from the filing itself, not independently verified.

Time to disclose: 29 days(29 days from discovery to filing)
Compliance flags: WA AG ≤30d
Discovery-date grounding: AG web formThe discovery date came from the AG web-form field, which is systematically later than the detection date stated in the letter. Treat the clock as indicative.

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://agportal-s3bucket.s3.amazonaws.com/databreach/BreachA31812.pdf
DisclosureLens links to the originating regulator URL — full filing bodies are not redistributed from public surfaces (§4.5).
Filed at: Dec 31, 2024
Raw hash: 7727c6ae2ddcc72e586b50efbd6760355a6337530b56f2fab375f2ecbfe6d443

Reporting entityEastern Washington University

Victim entityEastern Washington University

Incidentdiscovered Dec 2, 2024

Stated responseImmediately reset the student employee’s passwords

ComplianceWA AG ≤30d

Extraction provenanceno artifact recorded

Source provenanceagportal-s3bucket.s3.amazonaws.com