Minnesota Department of Human Services Breach Incident Score: Analysis & Impact (MIN1768941399)

In this Rankiteo incident briefing, we review the Minnesota Department of Human Services breach identified under incident ID MIN1768941399.

The analysis begins with a detailed overview of Minnesota Department of Human Services's information like the linkedin page: https://www.linkedin.com/company/minnesota-department-of-human-services, the number of followers: 34170, the industry type: Government Administration and the number of employees: 1876 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 669 and after the incident was 577 with a difference of -92 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 Minnesota Department of Human Services and their customers.

On 18 November 2023, Minnesota Department of Human Services (DHS) disclosed Data Breach issues under the banner "Minnesota DHS Data Breach Affecting 304,000 Individuals".

The Minnesota Department of Human Services (DHS) disclosed a data breach impacting nearly 304,000 state residents due to unauthorized access to the MnCHOICES system, which supports individuals requiring long-term services.

The disruption is felt across the environment, affecting MnCHOICES system, and exposing Demographic records, income data, educational backgrounds, names, phone numbers, dates of birth, addresses, Medicaid ID numbers, partial Social Security numbers, with nearly 304,000 (1,200 with sensitive data) records at risk.

In response, and stakeholders are being briefed through Notifications issued to affected individuals.

The case underscores how Completed (no evidence of data misuse found), teams are taking away lessons such as Highlights vulnerabilities in systems handling sensitive health and demographic data, particularly regarding permission controls, with advisories going out to stakeholders covering Notifications issued to affected individuals.

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%), supported by evidence indicating user affiliated with a healthcare provider accessed state data without proper authorization. Under the Privilege Escalation tactic, the analysis identified Valid Accounts (T1078) with moderate to high confidence (80%), supported by evidence indicating user exceeded their permissions, retrieving sensitive information over a one-month period. Under the Credential Access tactic, the analysis identified Credentials in Files (T1552.006) with moderate confidence (60%), supported by evidence indicating medicaid ID numbers and partial Social Security numbers exposed. Under the Collection tactic, the analysis identified Data from Local System (T1005) with high confidence (90%), supported by evidence indicating demographic records, income data, educational backgrounds, and sensitive personal information compromised. Under the Exfiltration tactic, the analysis identified Exfiltration Over C2 Channel (T1041) with moderate to high confidence (70%), supported by evidence indicating unauthorized access exposed data of 304,000 individuals over a one-month period. Under the Impact tactic, the analysis identified Stored Data Manipulation (T1565.001) with moderate confidence (50%), supported by evidence indicating potential fraud monitoring by Minnesota Office of Inspector General and Data Destruction (T1485) with lower confidence (30%), supported by evidence indicating no evidence of data misuse found, but unauthorized access occurred. These correlations help security teams understand the attack chain and develop appropriate defensive measures based on the observed tactics and techniques.