Aspiranet

On March 21, 2016, Aspiranet fell victim to a spoofing email scam, a form of cyber deception where attackers impersonated a legitimate source to trick employees. The breach exposed personal information from W-2 filings, including highly sensitive data such as names, home addresses, and Social Security numbers (SSNs) of employees. The exact number of affected individuals remains undisclosed, but the incident was severe enough to warrant a formal report by the California Office of the Attorney General on March 25, 2016. The compromised data particularly SSNs poses significant risks, including identity theft, financial fraud, and long-term reputational harm to both the organization and the impacted employees. Spoofing attacks exploit human trust in communication systems, often bypassing technical safeguards. While the breach did not involve ransomware or direct customer data exposure, the leak of employee tax-related documents classifies it as a high-stakes internal data breach with potential cascading consequences for those affected. Aspiranet’s incident underscores vulnerabilities in email security protocols and the critical need for employee training to recognize phishing and spoofing attempts. The breach’s aftermath likely involved regulatory scrutiny, mandatory disclosures, and remediation efforts to mitigate further damage.

Source: https://oag.ca.gov/ecrime/databreach/reports/sb24-60715

TPRM report: https://www.rankiteo.com/company/aspiranet

"id": "asp026091825",
"linkid": "aspiranet",
"type": "Breach",
"date": "3/2016",
"severity": "60",
"impact": "3",
"explanation": "Attack with significant impact with internal employee data leaks"

{'affected_entities': [{'customers_affected': 'Unknown (W-2 filers)',
                        'industry': 'Social Services / Child and Family '
                                    'Welfare',
                        'location': 'California, USA',
                        'name': 'Aspiranet',
                        'type': 'Nonprofit Organization'}],
 'attack_vector': 'Email Spoofing (Phishing)',
 'data_breach': {'data_exfiltration': 'Yes (via spoofed email responses)',
                 'file_types_exposed': ['W-2 Forms'],
                 'number_of_records_exposed': 'Unknown',
                 'personally_identifiable_information': ['Names',
                                                         'Addresses',
                                                         'Social Security '
                                                         'Numbers'],
                 'sensitivity_of_data': 'High (SSNs, tax data)',
                 'type_of_data_compromised': ['Personally Identifiable '
                                              'Information (PII)',
                                              'Tax Information (W-2)']},
 'date_detected': '2016-03-21',
 'date_publicly_disclosed': '2016-03-25',
 'description': 'The California Office of the Attorney General reported a data '
                'breach involving Aspiranet on March 25, 2016. The breach '
                'occurred on March 21, 2016, as a result of an e-mail scam '
                "known as 'spoofing,' which exposed personal information from "
                'W-2 filings, including names, addresses, and Social Security '
                'numbers. The number of individuals affected is currently '
                'unknown.',
 'impact': {'data_compromised': ['Names',
                                 'Addresses',
                                 'Social Security Numbers (from W-2 filings)'],
            'identity_theft_risk': 'High (SSNs exposed)'},
 'initial_access_broker': {'entry_point': 'Spoofed Email (Phishing)',
                           'high_value_targets': ['W-2 Tax Data']},
 'post_incident_analysis': {'root_causes': ['Lack of email authentication '
                                            '(e.g., DMARC, SPF)',
                                            'Employee susceptibility to '
                                            'spoofing']},
 'references': [{'source': 'California Office of the Attorney General'}],
 'regulatory_compliance': {'regulatory_notifications': 'Reported to California '
                                                       'Office of the Attorney '
                                                       'General'},
 'response': {'communication_strategy': 'Public disclosure via California '
                                        'Office of the Attorney General'},
 'title': 'Aspiranet Data Breach via Email Spoofing (2016)',
 'type': 'Data Breach',
 'vulnerability_exploited': 'Human Error (Falling for Spoofed Email)'}