Social EngineeringProfessional ServicesFinancial ServicesProfessional ServicesPhishingBECData ExfiltratedCustomer Data InvolvedRansom DemandedIdentity (basic)Government IDPIIMediumActive

Alpha Payroll Services, LLC

bd_5fdbc634a911d861 · schema v1 · pii pii-v1

Severity

Medium

Discovered

Apr 8, 2016

Filed

Apr 29, 2016

To disclose

21 days

Affected

1state residents only

Confidence

66%

Full breach record for Alpha Payroll Services, LLC →

Alpha Payroll Services, LLC notified the NH Attorney General of a phishing incident affecting one NH resident. An employee responded to a CEO spoofing email on March 1-2, 2016, inadvertently releasing 2015 W-2 forms. Discovery occurred April 8, 2016, after a customer reported fraudulent tax returns. Data exposed: name, address, phone, SSN. Notification sent May 3, 2016.

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Incident timeline

undetected · 38 days

discovery → filing · 21 days

Mar 1, 2016

Begins

Apr 8, 2016

Discovered

Apr 29, 2016

Filed

vs. sector median

11 wks faster

Tracked as a single-filing incident — the only disclosure on record for this event so far.Confirmed1 affectedView incident

Name: Alpha Payroll Services, LLC
norm: alpha payroll

Name: Alpha Payroll Services, LLC
norm: alpha payroll
Industry: Professional ServicesllmFinancial Servicesllm

Discovered: Apr 8, 2016
Breach occurred: Mar 1, 2016 – Mar 2, 2016
Undetected for: 38 daysoccurrence → discovery
Materiality determined: —
Notification sent: May 3, 2016
Affected individuals: 1state-resident count only
Data types: Identity (basic)Government IDPII
Attack vector: Phishing
MITRE ATT&CK: T1566.002 Spearphishing LinkT1078 Valid Accounts
Threat actor: ExternalFinancial
Regulator citations: Notified the Criminal Investigation Division of the IRSNotified the FBI
Initial access: phishing_link

During the incident: Terminated the employee who responded to the phishing attack
Hired experts to assist in the investigation and response
Contact with law enforcement, including the Criminal Investigation Division of the IRS and the FBI
Established a call center
Offered one year of complimentary credit monitoring and identity theft protection services through AllClear ID
Changes made: Redoubled its efforts to educate employees on phishing schemes and the importance of confirming the legitimacy of emails
Source: Quoted from the filing itself, not independently verified.

Time to disclose: 21 days(21 days from discovery to filing)
Compliance flags: — (clock not assessable for this source)

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://mm.nh.gov/files/uploads/doj/remote-docs/alpha-payroll-20160429.pdf
DisclosureLens links to the originating regulator URL — full filing bodies are not redistributed from public surfaces (§4.5).
Filed at: Apr 29, 2016
Raw hash: a626808b5860b8055b6d75e9de88e8bce12130bc82504676d933fcb85eb8c3b3

Reporting entityAlpha Payroll Services, LLC

Victim entityAlpha Payroll Services, LLC

Incidentdiscovered Apr 8, 2016

Stated responseTerminated the employee who responded to the phishing attack

Complianceclock not assessable

Extraction provenanceno artifact recorded

Source provenancemm.nh.gov