HackingEducationTelecom & MediaEducationVulnerability ExploitCustomer Data InvolvedIdentity (basic)CredentialsLowContained

The Chronicle of Higher Education, Inc.

bd_557eb7302a7faf95 · schema v1 · pii pii-v1

Severity

Low

Discovered

Jun 19, 2020

Filed

Jul 10, 2020

To disclose

21 days

Affected

Not disclosed

Linked

2 filings

Confidence

64%

Full breach record for The Chronicle of Higher Education, Inc. →3 incidents on file

The Chronicle of Higher Education, Inc. disclosed that unauthorized parties exploited a vulnerability in one of its servers, exposing account information (name, email, username, and plain-text passwords) for some online accounts to chronicle.com, philanthropy.com, and chroniclevitae.com. The breach occurred on June 15, 2020, and was discovered on June 19, 2020. The company reset all passwords, replaced the affected server, and strengthened security hashing/salting procedures.

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California clockDiscovered Jun 19, 2020 → Notified Jul 9, 202020d ✓ CA 60-day OK21 days discovery → filing

Incident timeline

undetected · 4 days

discovery → filing · 21 days

Jun 15, 2020

Begins

Jun 19, 2020

Discovered

Jul 10, 2020

Filed

vs. sector median

4 wks faster

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

Linked disclosures

Why this link?

Regulatory filings (1) · sorted by filing gap

California State AGbd_109cd63629957e5b2020-05-13 · +58dCandidate

Name: The Chronicle of Higher Education, Inc.
norm: the chronicle of higher education
Domain: chronicle.com

Name: The Chronicle of Higher Education, Inc.
norm: the chronicle of higher education
Domain: chronicle.com
Industry: EducationllmTelecom & Mediallm

Discovered: Jun 19, 2020
Breach occurred: Jun 15, 2020
Undetected for: 4 daysoccurrence → discovery
Materiality determined: —
Notification sent: Jul 9, 2020
Affected individuals: Not disclosed
Data types: Identity (basic)Credentials
Attack vector: Unauthorized Access
MITRE ATT&CK: T1190 Exploit Public-Facing Application
Threat actor: External
Regulator citations: Notified law enforcement
Initial access: exploit_public_facing

During the incident: Launched an investigation with the assistance of a leading cybersecurity firm
Notified law enforcement
Reset passwords to all online accounts on June 16, 2020
Changes made: Resetting the password(s) to all online accounts using stronger “hashing” and “salting” technology
Replacement of the server with the unauthorized access
Additional procedures to further expand and strengthen security processes
Source: Quoted from the filing itself, not independently verified.

Time to disclose: 21 days(21 days from discovery to filing)
Compliance flags: CA 60-day OK · 20d
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: Jun 19, 2020
→ Notified: Jul 9, 2020
20d 60 days (analyst band, pre-2026 discoveries) CA 60-day OK

Statute	Window	Elapsed	Threshold	Status
California	Discovered: Jun 19, 2020 → Notified: Jul 9, 2020	20d	60 days (analyst band, pre-2026 discoveries)	CA 60-day OK

Status: No extraction artifact recorded for this disclosure.

Filing propagation · 2 filings

View merged incident ↗

California State AGMay 13 · first

California State AG+58d · this page

Pattern: first filing May 13 (CA), last Jul 10 (CA) — a 58-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://oag.ca.gov/ecrime/databreach/reports/sb24-191927
DisclosureLens links to the originating regulator URL — full filing bodies are not redistributed from public surfaces (§4.5).
Filed at: Jul 10, 2020
Raw hash: f8538d394546df2148f603c0e12dce02b6bfae4161ab679524c60139c5e5b7b8

Linked disclosures

Regulatory filings (1) · sorted by filing gap

Reporting entityThe Chronicle of Higher Education, Inc.

Victim entityThe Chronicle of Higher Education, Inc.

Incidentdiscovered Jun 19, 2020

Stated responseLaunched an investigation with the assistance of a leading cybersecurity firm

ComplianceCA 60-day OK

Extraction provenanceno artifact recorded

Source provenanceoag.ca.gov