Social EngineeringTechnologyInformationPhishingCustomer Data InvolvedIdentity (basic)Government IDCredentialsMediumContained

The Associated Press Stylebook

bd_769169f0dfa38d02 · schema v1 · pii pii-v1

Severity

Medium

Discovered

Jul 20, 2023

Filed

Sep 1, 2023

To disclose

6 weeks

Affected

Not disclosed

Confidence

66%

Full breach record for The Associated Press Stylebook →

The Associated Press Stylebook notified consumers of a data breach affecting its old website, maintained by third-party provider Stylebooks.com, Inc. Between July 16-22, 2023, an unauthorized third party accessed customer personal information (names, addresses, User IDs, and potentially SSNs/Tax IDs) after customers received phishing emails. The incident was discovered on July 20, 2023. The company engaged forensic investigators, took the old site offline, forced password resets, and offered 24 months of credit monitoring.

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Vermont clock⏱ VT AG >14 bday6 weeks discovery → filing

⚠ unattributedNo provenance was recorded for this discovery date and it matches no other date on the record. It may be correct, but it is not independently grounded.

Incident timeline

undetected · 4 days

discovery → filing · 6 weeks / 43 days

Jul 16, 2023

Begins

Jul 20, 2023

Discovered

Sep 1, 2023

Filed

vs. sector median

12 wks faster

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

Name: The Associated Press Stylebook
norm: the associated press stylebook

Name: The Associated Press Stylebook
norm: the associated press stylebook
Industry: Technologyllm

Discovered: Jul 20, 2023
Breach occurred: Jul 16, 2023 – Jul 22, 2023
Undetected for: 4 daysoccurrence → discovery
Materiality determined: Sep 1, 2023
Notification sent: Jul 27, 2023
Affected individuals: Not disclosed
Data types: Identity (basic)Government IDCredentials
Attack vector: Phishing
MITRE ATT&CK: T1566.002 Spearphishing Link
Threat actor: ExternalFinancial
Third party: via Stylebooks.com, Inc.
Initial access: phishing_link

During the incident: Engaged a cyber forensics firm to investigate the incident
Engaged with service provider Stylebooks.com
Old AP Stylebook website was taken offline
Fake spoofed Stylebooks website was taken down
Sent an email to all AP Stylebook customers alerting them to the phishing emails
Forcing all AP Stylebook customers to change their passwords prior to accessing the active AP Stylebook website
Offering 24 months of complimentary credit monitoring and identity restoration services through Experian
Changes made: Reviewing its security protocols
Enhancing its internal training programs
Source: Quoted from the filing itself, not independently verified.

Time to disclose: 6 weeks(43 days from discovery to filing)
Compliance flags: VT AG >14 bday
Discovery-date grounding: unattributedNo provenance was recorded for this discovery date and it matches no other date on the record. It may be correct, but it is not independently grounded.

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://ago.vermont.gov/document/2023-09-01-associated-press-data-breach-notice-consumers
DisclosureLens links to the originating regulator URL — full filing bodies are not redistributed from public surfaces (§4.5).
Filed at: Sep 1, 2023
Raw hash: 737c0e82586002a3564024b431046c434b01e58d0425555cf1fe002e8fb370ea

Reporting entityThe Associated Press Stylebook

Victim entityThe Associated Press Stylebook

Incidentdiscovered Jul 20, 2023

Stated responseEngaged a cyber forensics firm to investigate the incident

ComplianceVT AG >14 bday

Extraction provenanceno artifact recorded

Source provenanceago.vermont.gov