Social EngineeringProfessional ServicesProfessional ServicesPhishingStolen CredentialsMulti-Stage ChainData ExfiltratedCustomer Data InvolvedIdentity (basic)Government IDFinancialMediumActive

Avention Media

bd_645918b04ac6b2e8 · schema v1 · pii pii-v1

Severity

Medium

Discovered

Apr 28, 2016

Filed

May 9, 2016

To disclose

11 days

Affected

20state residents only

Linked

2 filings

Confidence

66%

Full breach record for Avention Media →

Avention notified NH AG of unauthorized access to employee I-9 and W-2 forms. Incident involved phishing (April 5) and credential misuse (March 31). 20 NH residents affected. Data included SSNs, names, addresses, and government IDs. Avention engaged forensic investigators, notified law enforcement, and offered 3 years of identity protection.

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Incident timeline

undetected · 28 days

discovery → filing · 11 days

Mar 31, 2016

Begins

Apr 28, 2016

Discovered

May 9, 2016

Filed

vs. sector median

16 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

Massachusetts State AGbd_526f0c72df60dae22016-05-10 · +1dVerified

Name: Avention Media
norm: avention media
Domain: aventionmedia.com

Name: Avention Media
norm: avention media
Domain: aventionmedia.com
Industry: Professional Servicesllm

Discovered: Apr 28, 2016
Breach occurred: Mar 31, 2016 – Apr 5, 2016
Undetected for: 28 daysoccurrence → discovery
Materiality determined: —
Notification sent: May 5, 2016
Affected individuals: 20state-resident count only
Data types: Identity (basic)Government IDFinancial
Data elements: Social Security number
Attack vector: Phishing
MITRE ATT&CK: T1566.002 Spearphishing LinkT1078 Valid Accounts
Threat actor: ExternalFinancial
Regulator citations: Notified New Hampshire Attorney General
Initial access: phishing_link

During the incident: Launched an internal investigation
Contacted federal law enforcement
Hired a leading cybersecurity firm to assist with its investigation
Notified all current employees of the incident during a town hall meeting
Notified all affected former employees via an email communication
Mailed notification letters to all affected individuals
Changes made: Conducting a thorough review of its security measures, internal controls, and safeguards
Making changes to existing policies and procedures
Implementing training and awareness programs
Offering identity protection services for a period of 3 years
Source: Quoted from the filing itself, not independently verified.

Time to disclose: 11 days(11 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 ↗

New Hampshire State AGMay 9 · first · this page

Massachusetts State AG+1d

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/avention-20160509.pdf
DisclosureLens links to the originating regulator URL — full filing bodies are not redistributed from public surfaces (§4.5).
Filed at: May 9, 2016
Raw hash: 6578e1064ae683de024ac77d6d788c001dd2baf74e6e9bb83206440668642b2e

Linked disclosures

Regulatory filings (1) · sorted by filing gap

Reporting entityAvention Media

Victim entityAvention Media

Incidentdiscovered Apr 28, 2016

Stated responseLaunched an internal investigation

Complianceclock not assessable

Extraction provenanceno artifact recorded

Source provenancemm.nh.gov