Emergency Communications Network Breach Incident Score: Analysis & Impact (EME1521815112525)

In this Rankiteo incident briefing, we review the Emergency Communications Network breach identified under incident ID EME1521815112525.

The analysis begins with a detailed overview of Emergency Communications Network's information like the linkedin page: https://www.linkedin.com/company/emergency-communications-network-llc, the number of followers: 1019, the industry type: IT Services and IT Consulting and the number of employees: 56 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 751 and after the incident was 733 with a difference of -18 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 Emergency Communications Network and their customers.

On 27 November 2023, Douglas County Sheriff’s Office disclosed Cyberattack, Data Breach and Service Disruption issues under the banner "Cyberattack and Data Breach on Douglas County Sheriff’s Office CodeRED Emergency Alert System".

The Douglas County Sheriff’s Office discontinued use of its CodeRED emergency alert system after discovering a cyberattack and data breach.

The disruption is felt across the environment, affecting CodeRED emergency alert system, and exposing True.

In response, teams activated the incident response plan, moved swiftly to contain the threat with measures like Discontinuation of CodeRED system, and began remediation that includes Evaluation of alternative alert providers, while recovery efforts such as Door-to-door notifications, Social media alerts and Potential new system adoption within 1–2 weeks continue, and stakeholders are being briefed through Public disclosure, Advisories to residents (credit bureau checks) and Media statements.

The case underscores how Ongoing (no details on root cause or threat actor), and recommending next steps like Transition to more secure emergency alert systems, Proactive credit monitoring for affected residents and Multi-channel alert redundancy, with advisories going out to stakeholders covering Residents advised to contact credit bureaus; counties evaluating alternative providers.

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 Exploit Public-Facing Application (T1190) with moderate to high confidence (70%), supported by evidence indicating cyberattack and data breach in CodeRED emergency alert system; system outages... two weeks prior and Valid Accounts (T1078) with moderate confidence (60%), supported by evidence indicating hundreds of agencies nationwide affected; no MFA/credential details mentioned, but system misuse implied. Under the Collection tactic, the analysis identified Data from Local System (T1005) with high confidence (90%), supported by evidence indicating compromised customer information including Personally Identifiable Information (PII). Under the Exfiltration tactic, the analysis identified Exfiltration Over Alternative Protocol: Exfiltration Over Unencrypted/Obfuscated Non-C2 Protocol (T1048.003) with moderate to high confidence (80%), supported by evidence indicating data exfiltration such as Likely (data lost but not published online). Under the Impact tactic, the analysis identified Data Encrypted for Impact (T1486) with lower confidence (30%), supported by evidence indicating no ransomware confirmed, but system outages and discontinuation suggest disruptive intent and Endpoint Denial of Service: Application or System Exploitation (T1499.004) with high confidence (90%), supported by evidence indicating loss of emergency alert capabilities; reliance on manual methods due to system discontinuation. Under the Defense Evasion tactic, the analysis identified Indicator Removal: File Deletion (T1070.004) with moderate confidence (50%), supported by evidence indicating data has not been published online suggests potential log/trace cleanup. Under the Credential Access tactic, the analysis identified Credentials from Password Stores (T1555) with moderate confidence (60%), supported by evidence indicating personal information of CodeRED users may have been exposed (implies credential material potentially accessed). These correlations help security teams understand the attack chain and develop appropriate defensive measures based on the observed tactics and techniques.