HackingRetail & ConsumerRetailVulnerability ExploitData ExfiltratedCustomer Data InvolvedGovernment IDMediumActive

Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Company

bd_c052ff7000a09020 · schema v1 · pii pii-v1

Severity

Medium

Discovered

Apr 25, 2008

Filed

Jul 1, 2008

To disclose

10 weeks

Affected · nationwide

1942 in this filing

Linked

2 filings

Confidence

65%

Full breach record for Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Company →3 incidents on file

Houghton Mifflin Harcourt (HMH) notified the New Hampshire Attorney General on July 1, 2008, regarding a worldwide Internet-based attack on a non-e-commerce website discovered on April 25, 2008. The incident compromised Social Security Numbers for approximately 194 individuals, including 2 New Hampshire residents. HMH retained digital forensics experts, reported the matter to the U.S. Secret Service and state law enforcement, and arranged for two years of free credit monitoring and identity theft insurance for affected individuals. The investigation was ongoing at the time of filing.

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Incident timeline

discovery → filing · 10 weeks / 67 days

Apr 25, 2008

Discovered

Jul 1, 2008

Filed

vs. sector median

+2 wks slower

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_dd15c91ffdc1b9cc2008-07-02 · +1dVerified

Name: WILMER CUTLER PICKERING HALE AND DORR LLP
norm: wilmer cutler pickering hale and dorr

Name: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Company
norm: houghton mifflin harcourt
Domain: hmhco.com
Industry: Retail & Consumerllm

Discovered: Apr 25, 2008
Materiality determined: —
Notification sent: Jul 1, 2008
Affected individuals: 194state + nationwide
Data types: Government ID
Data elements: Social Security number
Attack vector: Unauthorized Access
MITRE ATT&CK: T1190 Exploit Public-Facing Application
Threat actor: External
Regulator citations: Reported this matter to the U.S. Secret Service and state law enforcement
Initial access: exploit_public_facing

During the incident: Reported this matter to the U.S. Secret Service and state law enforcement
Cooperated with law enforcement, which is actively investigating the incident
Conducted a thorough investigation of the incident, including an assessment of whether or not the theft created any prospective data security risk
Identified the sensitive personal information about individuals stored on the affected server
Made arrangements to notify affected individuals about the incident in accordance with state laws
Offered premium credit monitoring, ID theft insurance, and ID theft resolution services
Provided additional information about prevention and detection of ID theft including information about credit alerts and credit freezes
Retained digital forensics experts to collect and analyze data from the relevant computer systems
Changes made: Continuing to work with information security professionals to review current policies and procedures to identify steps that can be taken to better protect against incidents of this kind
Source: Quoted from the filing itself, not independently verified.

Time to disclose: 10 weeks(67 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 AGJul 1 · 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/wilmerhale-20080701.pdf
DisclosureLens links to the originating regulator URL — full filing bodies are not redistributed from public surfaces (§4.5).
Filed at: Jul 1, 2008
Raw hash: 263ace93ae2a944110ff54cc71ebc396f1dae9c35b2c9f271dc06eef82b5831c

Linked disclosures

Regulatory filings (1) · sorted by filing gap

Reporting entityWILMER CUTLER PICKERING HALE AND DORR LLP

Victim entityHoughton Mifflin Harcourt Company

Incidentdiscovered Apr 25, 2008

Stated responseReported this matter to the U.S. Secret Service and state law enforcement

Complianceclock not assessable

Extraction provenanceno artifact recorded

Source provenancemm.nh.gov