MalwareEducationEducationRansomwareSupply Chain (3P Vendor)Data ExfiltratedCustomer Data InvolvedIdentity (basic)PIIMediumContained

NORTHEASTERN UNIVERSITY

bd_518b432d159c54b7 · schema v1 · pii pii-v1

Severity

Medium

Discovered

Jul 16, 2020

Filed

Aug 12, 2020

To disclose

27 days

Affected

2,602state residents only

Confidence

70%

Full breach record for NORTHEASTERN UNIVERSITY →17 incidents on file

Northeastern University notified the Washington AG of a third-party data breach involving Blackbaud, a fundraising software provider. A ransomware attack on Blackbaud compromised backup files containing names, addresses, DOBs, emails, and phone numbers of alumni/donors. 2,602 Washington residents were affected. The incident was discovered on July 16, 2020, and notifications were sent in August 2020.

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Washington clock✓ WA AG ≤30d27 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 · 160 days

discovery → filing · 27 days

Feb 7, 2020

Begins

Jul 16, 2020

Discovered

Aug 12, 2020

Filed

vs. sector median

5 wks faster

Tracked as a single-filing incident — the only disclosure on record for this event so far.Confirmed2,602 affectedView incident

Name: NORTHEASTERN UNIVERSITY
norm: northeastern university

Name: NORTHEASTERN UNIVERSITY
norm: northeastern university
Industry: Educationllm

Discovered: Jul 16, 2020
Breach occurred: Feb 7, 2020 – May 20, 2020
Undetected for: 160 daysoccurrence → discovery
Materiality determined: —
Notification sent: Aug 12, 2020
Affected individuals: 2,602state-resident count only
Data types: Identity (basic)PII
Data elements: NameDate of birth
WA-stated cause: Cyberattack
WA-stated duration: lifecycle 100-199dexposure 100-199d
WA-stated discovery: Found after the fact
Attack vector: Third-Party / Supply Chain
MITRE ATT&CK: T1486 Data Encrypted for ImpactT1195 Supply Chain Compromise
Threat actor: ExternalFinancial
Regulator citations: Notified Washington Office of the Attorney General
Third party: via Blackbaud
Initial access: supply_chain

During the incident: Launched an internal investigation into the data provided to the service
Halting any further work with the service until our confidence in their data protection safeguards can be restored
Sending notice to the affected individuals
Posted a notice of the event on our Alumni Relations page
Changes made: Blackbaud has engaged with experts to continue to monitor the situation as an extra precautionary measure
Blackbaud will continue to accelerate efforts to strengthen and enhance their platform
Source: Quoted from the filing itself, not independently verified.

Time to disclose: 27 days(27 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/BreachM10219.pdf
DisclosureLens links to the originating regulator URL — full filing bodies are not redistributed from public surfaces (§4.5).
Filed at: Aug 12, 2020
Raw hash: fc0415836863cf77915bcf9e84f38c91d5f601ff571cbecd7e6b6f3aaca7d557

Reporting entityNORTHEASTERN UNIVERSITY

Victim entityNORTHEASTERN UNIVERSITY

Incidentdiscovered Jul 16, 2020

Stated responseLaunched an internal investigation into the data provided to the service

ComplianceWA AG ≤30d

Extraction provenanceno artifact recorded

Source provenanceagportal-s3bucket.s3.amazonaws.com