FEI Systems Breach Incident Score: Analysis & Impact (FEI1768877970)

In this Rankiteo incident briefing, we review the FEI Systems breach identified under incident ID FEI1768877970.

The analysis begins with a detailed overview of FEI Systems's information like the linkedin page: https://www.linkedin.com/company/fei-systems2, the number of followers: 24114, the industry type: IT Services and IT Consulting and the number of employees: 449 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 503 and after the incident was 413 with a difference of -90 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 FEI Systems and their customers.

On 16 January 2024, Minnesota Department of Human Services (DHS) disclosed Data Breach issues under the banner "Minnesota DHS Data Breach Exposes Personal Information of Nearly 304,000 Individuals".

In late August, an unauthorized user affiliated with a licensed healthcare provider accessed sensitive data in Minnesota’s MnCHOICES system, a platform used by counties, tribes, and agencies to assess and plan long-term services for vulnerable populations.

The disruption is felt across the environment, affecting MnCHOICES System, and exposing Personal Information, Medicaid IDs, Last Four Digits of SSNs, Ethnicity, Birth Records, Physical Traits, Education, Income, Benefits, with nearly 304,000 (1,206 with additional sensitive data) records at risk.

In response, teams activated the incident response plan, moved swiftly to contain the threat with measures like Access revoked on October 30, 2023, and began remediation that includes Additional technical safeguards implemented, and stakeholders are being briefed through Affected individuals notified via letter on January 16, 2024.

The case underscores how Completed, teams are taking away lessons such as Vulnerabilities in systems handling sensitive health and social services data; need for stricter access controls and monitoring, and recommending next steps like Implement additional technical safeguards, enhance monitoring of user permissions, and expedite breach notification processes, with advisories going out to stakeholders covering Affected individuals notified via letter on January 16, 2024.

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 high confidence (90%), with evidence including user had legitimate but limited access to MnCHOICES, and exceeded their authorized permissions. Under the Persistence tactic, the analysis identified Valid Accounts (T1078) with moderate to high confidence (80%), supported by evidence indicating breach persisted for nearly a month before being detected. Under the Privilege Escalation tactic, the analysis identified Valid Accounts (T1078) with high confidence (90%), supported by evidence indicating exceeded their authorized permissions by retrieving more data than necessary. Under the Credential Access tactic, the analysis identified Credentials from Cloud Instance Metadata API (T1552.006) with moderate confidence (50%), supported by evidence indicating unauthorized access included Medicaid IDs, last four digits of SSNs. Under the Collection tactic, the analysis identified Data from Local System (T1005) with high confidence (90%), supported by evidence indicating names, dates of birth, addresses, phone numbers, Medicaid IDs exposed and Data from Information Repositories (T1213) with high confidence (90%), supported by evidence indicating accessed sensitive data in Minnesota’s MnCHOICES system. Under the Exfiltration tactic, the analysis identified Exfiltration Over C2 Channel (T1041) with moderate confidence (60%), supported by evidence indicating no evidence the data was misused (implies potential exfiltration). Under the Defense Evasion tactic, the analysis identified Valid Accounts (T1078) with moderate to high confidence (80%), supported by evidence indicating unauthorized access via legitimate but limited access and Hidden Users (T1564.002) with moderate confidence (50%), supported by evidence indicating delayed detection of unauthorized activity (mid-November). Under the Impact tactic, the analysis identified Data Destruction (T1485) with lower confidence (20%), supported by evidence indicating no evidence of data misuse (low confidence for destruction) and Stored Data Manipulation (T1565.001) with lower confidence (30%), supported by evidence indicating potential fraud monitored by Office of Inspector General. These correlations help security teams understand the attack chain and develop appropriate defensive measures based on the observed tactics and techniques.