AccidentalEducationEducationMisconfigurationEmployee Data InvolvedDelayed DiscoveryIdentity (basic)Government IDEmploymentMediumContained

Stanford University

bd_cb1264619b302ef5 · schema v1 · pii pii-v1

Severity

Medium

Discovered

Feb 23, 2017

Filed

Dec 1, 2017

To disclose

40 weeks

Affected

Not disclosed

Confidence

65%

Full breach record for Stanford University →8 incidents on file

Stanford University notified the California Attorney General of a data breach involving employee personal information. A report containing names, dates of birth, Social Security Numbers, and salary data was accessible to Graduate School of Business faculty, staff, and students from mid-September 2016 to early March 2017 due to incorrect folder permissions. The IT team discovered the permission error on February 23, 2017, and secured the folders by March 3, 2017. The University Privacy Office was notified later in 2017. Stanford engaged a forensics firm and is offering credit monitoring to affected employees.

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California clockDiscovered Feb 23, 2017 → Notified Dec 1, 2017281d ✗ CA 60-day late40 weeks discovery → filing

Incident timeline

undetected · 175 days

discovery → filing · 40 weeks / 281 days

Sep 1, 2016

Begins

Feb 23, 2017

Discovered

Dec 1, 2017

Filed

vs. sector median

+33 wks slower

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

Name: Stanford University
norm: stanford university
Domain: stanford.edu

Name: Stanford University
norm: stanford university
Domain: stanford.edu
Industry: Educationllm

Discovered: Feb 23, 2017
Breach occurred: Sep 1, 2016 – Mar 3, 2017
Undetected for: 175 daysoccurrence → discovery
Materiality determined: —
Notification sent: Dec 1, 2017
Affected individuals: Not disclosed
Data types: Identity (basic)Government IDEmployment
Data elements: Social Security numberDate of birth
Attack vector: Misconfiguration

During the incident: Secured exposed folders within eight days of GSB IT learning of the issue
Information Security Office independently verified that appropriate file permissions were set
Engaged a data forensics firm to identify personally identifiable information in the accessible files and to validate file permissions at the time of the incident
Information Security Office, in coordination with university IT leadership, will review and make recommendations for enhancing secure file sharing across the university
Providing credit monitoring and credit repair services
Changes made: Review and make recommendations for enhancing secure file sharing across the university
Source: Quoted from the filing itself, not independently verified.

Time to disclose: 40 weeks(281 days from discovery to filing)
Compliance flags: CA 60-day late · 281d
Discovery-date grounding: letter-groundedThe discovery date is the detection date narrated in the notification letter — the defensible tier.
Clock breakdown: Statute Window Elapsed Threshold Status
California
Discovered: Feb 23, 2017
→ Notified: Dec 1, 2017
281d 60 days (analyst band, pre-2026 discoveries) CA 60-day late

Statute	Window	Elapsed	Threshold	Status
California	Discovered: Feb 23, 2017 → Notified: Dec 1, 2017	281d	60 days (analyst band, pre-2026 discoveries)	CA 60-day late

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://oag.ca.gov/ecrime/databreach/reports/sb24-118732
DisclosureLens links to the originating regulator URL — full filing bodies are not redistributed from public surfaces (§4.5).
Filed at: Dec 1, 2017
Raw hash: 985cb1841496391d5a3024c582a6f2fad99c1b728c56f983fbe038fd1860dc44

Reporting entityStanford University

Victim entityStanford University

Incidentdiscovered Feb 23, 2017

Stated responseSecured exposed folders within eight days of GSB IT learning of the issue

ComplianceCA 60-day late

Extraction provenanceno artifact recorded

Source provenanceoag.ca.gov