GQ Magazine Breach Incident Score: Analysis & Impact (GQ-CONCONWIRSELGLACONCONCON1766865597)

In this Rankiteo incident briefing, we review the GQ Magazine breach identified under incident ID GQ-CONCONWIRSELGLACONCONCON1766865597.

The analysis begins with a detailed overview of GQ Magazine's information like the linkedin page: https://www.linkedin.com/company/gq-magazine, the number of followers: 97283, the industry type: Book and Periodical Publishing and the number of employees: 438 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 757 and after the incident was 639 with a difference of -118 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 GQ Magazine and their customers.

On 20 December 2025, Wired.com disclosed Data Breach issues under the banner "Wired.com User Data Leak by Hacker 'Lovely'".

A hacker using the alias 'Lovely' leaked personal data of over 2.3 million Wired.com users, accusing Condé Nast of ignoring security warnings.

The disruption is felt across the environment, affecting Wired.com user database or shared Condé Nast identity platform, and exposing 2,366,576 Wired.com user records; over 40 million records across Condé Nast properties, with nearly 2,366,576 (Wired.com); over 40 million (Condé Nast properties) records at risk.

Formal response steps have not been shared publicly yet.

The case underscores how Ongoing (unverified by Condé Nast).

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 breach of a live or archived user database, and centralized account infrastructure and Exploit Public-Facing Application (T1190) with moderate confidence (60%), supported by evidence indicating method of the breach remains undisclosed (implied web-facing system). Under the Credential Access tactic, the analysis identified Unsecured Credentials: Cloud Secrets (T1552.006) with moderate confidence (50%), supported by evidence indicating shared Condé Nast identity platform (implied cloud infrastructure). Under the Exfiltration tactic, the analysis identified Transfer Data to Cloud Account (T1537) with moderate to high confidence (80%), supported by evidence indicating leaked on the hacking forum *Breach Stars* and Exfiltration Over C2 Channel (T1041) with moderate to high confidence (70%), supported by evidence indicating data exfiltration confirmed by *Hackread.com*. Under the Impact tactic, the analysis identified Data Encrypted for Impact (T1486) with lower confidence (0%), Data Destruction (T1485) with lower confidence (0%), Data Manipulation: Transmitted Data Manipulation (T1565.002) with lower confidence (0%), and Financial Theft (T1657) with lower confidence (40%), supported by evidence indicating potential financial gain (data sold on dark web). Under the Defense Evasion tactic, the analysis identified Hide Artifacts: Hidden Files and Directories (T1564.001) with moderate confidence (50%), supported by evidence indicating breach method undisclosed (implied evasion of detection). These correlations help security teams understand the attack chain and develop appropriate defensive measures based on the observed tactics and techniques.