Social EngineeringTechnologyInformationPhishingStolen CredentialsMulti-Stage ChainCustomer Data InvolvedIdentity (basic)Government IDCredentialsMediumContained

Associated Press

bd_92458cf7e40a3b4d · schema v1 · pii pii-v1

Severity

Medium

Discovered

Jul 20, 2023

Filed

Sep 6, 2023

To disclose

7 weeks

Affected

1state residents only

Confidence

65%

Full breach record for Associated Press →

Associated Press Stylebook notified customers of a data breach where phishing emails directed users to a fake website, leading to unauthorized access of customer data stored on an old, inactive website maintained by third-party provider Stylebooks.com. Affected data included names, addresses, User IDs, and potentially SSNs/Tax IDs. The incident occurred July 16-22, 2023. APS engaged forensic investigators, took the old site offline, and offered 24 months of credit monitoring.

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Incident timeline

undetected · 4 days

discovery → filing · 7 weeks / 48 days

Jul 16, 2023

Begins

Jul 20, 2023

Discovered

Sep 6, 2023

Filed

vs. sector median

12 wks faster

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

Name: Associated Press
norm: associated press
Domain: apstylebook.com

Name: Associated Press
norm: associated press
Domain: apstylebook.com
Industry: Technologyllm

Discovered: Jul 20, 2023
Breach occurred: Jul 16, 2023 – Jul 22, 2023
Undetected for: 4 daysoccurrence → discovery
Materiality determined: —
Notification sent: Jul 27, 2023
Affected individuals: 1state-resident count only
Data types: Identity (basic)Government IDCredentials
Attack vector: Phishing
MITRE ATT&CK: T1566.002 Spearphishing LinkT1078 Valid Accounts
Threat actor: ExternalFinancial
Initial access: phishing_link

During the incident: Engaged a cyber forensics firm to investigate the incident
Engaged with service provider Stylebooks.com and forensic experts
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 phishing emails
Forcing all AP Stylebook customers to change their passwords
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: 7 weeks(48 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://dojmt.gov/wp-content/uploads/OCP/Consumer-notification-letter-644.pdf
DisclosureLens links to the originating regulator URL — full filing bodies are not redistributed from public surfaces (§4.5).
Filed at: Sep 6, 2023
Raw hash: 479ea8ea82fc787b3aac76150f0d76e4b1d2d51786e0dec22ec0b9f98330aa2e

Reporting entityAssociated Press

Victim entityAssociated Press

Incidentdiscovered Jul 20, 2023

Stated responseEngaged a cyber forensics firm to investigate the incident

Complianceclock not assessable

Extraction provenanceno artifact recorded

Source provenancedojmt.gov