Baker University Breach Incident Score: Analysis & Impact (BAK1766188565)

In this Rankiteo incident briefing, we review the Baker University breach identified under incident ID BAK1766188565.

The analysis begins with a detailed overview of Baker University's information like the linkedin page: https://www.linkedin.com/company/baker-university, the number of followers: 30970, the industry type: Higher Education and the number of employees: 703 employees

After the initial compromise, the video explains how Rankiteo's incident engine converts technical details into a normalized incident score. The incident score before the incident was 774 and after the incident was 698 with a difference of -76 which is could be a good indicator of the severity and impact of the incident.

In the next step of the video, we will analyze in more details the incident and the impact it had on Baker University and their customers.

On 19 December 2024, Baker University disclosed Data Breach issues under the banner "Baker University Data Breach".

Baker University experienced a significant data breach affecting sensitive information of students, staff, and other affiliated individuals.

The disruption is felt across the environment, affecting University network systems, and exposing Personally identifiable information (PII) and protected health information (PHI).

In response, teams activated the incident response plan, moved swiftly to contain the threat with measures like Secured network environment, and began remediation that includes Updated security policies and implemented additional technical measures, and stakeholders are being briefed through Public notice on website, regulatory filings, and direct communication with affected individuals.

The case underscores how Ongoing, and recommending next steps like Review notices from Baker University or affiliated companies, Monitor financial accounts and credit reports for signs of identity theft and Consider placing fraud alerts or credit freezes with major credit bureaus, with advisories going out to stakeholders covering Instructions for enrolling in credit monitoring and identity restoration services through IDX.

Finally, we try to match the incident with the MITRE ATT&CK framework to see if there is any correlation between the incident and the MITRE ATT&CK framework.

The MITRE ATT&CK framework is a knowledge base of techniques and sub-techniques that are used to describe the tactics and procedures of cyber adversaries. It is a powerful tool for understanding the threat landscape and for developing effective defense strategies.

Rankiteo's analysis has identified several MITRE ATT&CK tactics and techniques associated with this incident, each with varying levels of confidence based on available evidence. Under the Initial Access tactic, the analysis identified Valid Accounts (T1078) with moderate to high confidence (70%), with evidence including unauthorized actors accessed and exfiltrated files, and access to files and folders within the university’s network and Exploit Public-Facing Application (T1190) with moderate confidence (50%), with evidence including suspicious activity triggered a network outage, and no specific vulnerability mentioned but implies potential external access. Under the Credential Access tactic, the analysis identified Brute Force (T1110) with moderate confidence (60%), with evidence including unauthorized access suggests possible credential compromise, and no direct evidence but implied by unauthorized access and Unsecured Credentials (T1552) with moderate confidence (60%), supported by evidence indicating access to sensitive PII/PHI suggests potential credential misuse. Under the Exfiltration tactic, the analysis identified Exfiltration Over C2 Channel (T1041) with moderate to high confidence (80%), with evidence including unauthorized actors accessed and exfiltrated files, and data exfiltration such as Potential and Transfer Data to Cloud Account (T1537) with moderate confidence (50%), supported by evidence indicating no direct evidence but exfiltration implies potential cloud transfer. Under the Impact tactic, the analysis identified Data Encrypted for Impact (T1486) with lower confidence (30%), supported by evidence indicating no ransomware evidence but network outage suggests disruption and Data Destruction (T1485) with lower confidence (20%), supported by evidence indicating no evidence of destruction but outage implies potential impact. Under the Collection tactic, the analysis identified Data from Local System (T1005) with moderate to high confidence (80%), supported by evidence indicating files containing PII/PHI were accessed and exfiltrated and Data from Information Repositories (T1213) with moderate to high confidence (70%), supported by evidence indicating access to university network systems containing sensitive data. These correlations help security teams understand the attack chain and develop appropriate defensive measures based on the observed tactics and techniques.