U.S. Secret Service Breach Incident Score: Analysis & Impact (US-5985259112625)

In this Rankiteo incident briefing, we review the U.S. Secret Service breach identified under incident ID US-5985259112625.

The analysis begins with a detailed overview of U.S. Secret Service's information like the linkedin page: https://www.linkedin.com/company/us-secret-service, the number of followers: 344002, the industry type: Law Enforcement and the number of employees: 2453 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 778 and after the incident was 753 with a difference of -25 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 U.S. Secret Service and their customers.

U.S. Federal Government recently reported "FBI Warns of AI-Powered Smishing and Vishing Scams Targeting U.S. Government Officials", a noteworthy cybersecurity incident.

The FBI has disclosed a coordinated campaign involving smishing (malicious text messages) and vishing (AI-generated voice messages) targeting senior U.S.

The disruption is felt across the environment, and exposing personal information, login credentials and contact lists.

In response, teams activated the incident response plan, moved swiftly to contain the threat with measures like public service announcement (PSA), awareness campaign and reporting via IC3 (Internet Crime Complaint Center), and began remediation that includes password changes, multi-factor authentication (MFA) enforcement and account monitoring, and stakeholders are being briefed through FBI PSA, media outreach and direct warnings to potential targets.

The case underscores how ongoing, teams are taking away lessons such as AI-powered scams are increasingly sophisticated and can bypass traditional skepticism, Trust-based attacks exploit human psychology, requiring behavioral defenses (e.g., verification habits) and Publicly available data (e.g., LinkedIn, social media) fuels convincing impersonations, and recommending next steps like {'for_individuals': ['Never share sensitive information (credentials, PII, financial data) via unsolicited messages/calls.', 'Verify new contact information through existing, trusted channels.', 'Avoid clicking links or downloading attachments from unconfirmed sources.', 'Enable MFA and never share codes, even with seemingly legitimate requests.', 'Use a family/team verification phrase for emergency identity confirmation.', 'Download apps/files only from official sources.', 'Report suspicious activity to the FBI IC3 (www.ic3.gov).']} and {'for_organizations': ['Train employees on recognizing AI-generated scams (e.g., voice artifacts, tone inconsistencies).', 'Implement strict MFA policies and phishing-resistant authentication methods.', 'Monitor dark web for exposed credentials linked to employees.', 'Establish clear protocols for verifying high-stakes requests (e.g., fund transfers).', 'Collaborate with law enforcement to share threat intelligence.']}, with advisories going out to stakeholders covering FBI PSA warning senior officials and their contacts and recommendations for public vigilance.

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 Phishing: Spearphishing via SMS (Smishing) (T1566.001) with high confidence (95%), with evidence including coordinated campaign involving **smishing (malicious text messages)** targeting senior U.S. government officials, and sMS/MMS messages listed under **initial_access_broker.entry_point**, Phishing: Spearphishing via Voice (Vishing) (T1566.002) with high confidence (95%), with evidence including vishing (AI-generated voice messages) targeting officials with **AI voice cloning**, and voice calls/voicemails under **attack_vector**, and Valid Accounts: Cloud Accounts (T1078.004) with moderate to high confidence (85%), with evidence including tricked into granting access to accounts under false pretenses (e.g., switching to a secure messaging platform), and malicious links and fake messaging platforms in **attack_vector**. Under the Credential Access tactic, the analysis identified Credentials from Password Stores: Web Browsers (T1555.003) with moderate to high confidence (80%), with evidence including harvesting **login credentials** via malicious links or fake platforms, and data_compromised includes **credentials** in incident_details and Phishing for Information (T1566.002) with high confidence (90%), with evidence including deceive victims into revealing **sensitive personal data, login credentials, or financial information**, and impersonate high-ranking officials... to harvest credentials. Under the Collection tactic, the analysis identified Automated Collection (T1119) with moderate to high confidence (75%), with evidence including publicly available data (e.g., job titles, photos) to craft convincing lures, and data_compromised includes **contact lists** and **PII**. Under the Exfiltration tactic, the analysis identified Exfiltration Over Command and Control Channel (T1041) with moderate to high confidence (80%), with evidence including data exfiltration such as likely for **credentials, PII, and sensitive communications**, and data sold on dark web such as likely (credentials, PII). Under the Defense Evasion tactic, the analysis identified Obfuscated Files or Information: Indicator Removal from Tools (T1027.005) with moderate to high confidence (70%), with evidence including aI-generated voice cloning to evade detection via **voice artifacts**, and fake messaging platforms to mimic legitimate services. Under the Impact tactic, the analysis identified Gather Victim Identity Information: Credentials (T1589.002) with high confidence (90%), with evidence including credential harvesting for **further impersonation or fraud**, and identity theft risk such as high in **impact** and Abuse Elevation Control Mechanism: Bypass User Account Control (T1498.002) with moderate to high confidence (70%), with evidence including granting access to accounts under false pretenses (e.g., MFA bypass via social engineering), and lack of multi-factor authentication (MFA) as a **vulnerability_exploited**. These correlations help security teams understand the attack chain and develop appropriate defensive measures based on the observed tactics and techniques.