Paramount Marketing Consultants, Inc.

The Maine Office of the Attorney General disclosed a data breach at Paramount Marketing Consultants, Inc. in February 2022, stemming from an external hacking incident between December 20–26, 2021. The breach exposed the personal information of 1,190 individuals, including Social Security numbers (SSNs), a highly sensitive data type frequently targeted for identity theft and financial fraud. While the company offered identity theft protection services to affected individuals, the exposure of SSNs significantly elevates the risk of long-term harm, such as unauthorized credit applications, tax fraud, or medical identity theft. The breach was attributed to external hackers, indicating a deliberate cyber intrusion rather than an accidental vulnerability or internal error. The compromised data primarily SSNs suggests the attackers likely aimed to exploit the information for monetary gain or further criminal activities. Although the breach did not involve ransomware or a systemic outage, the leak of personally identifiable information (PII) of customers aligns with high-severity incidents due to the irreversible nature of SSN exposure and the potential for downstream financial and reputational damage to both individuals and the organization. The incident underscores the critical need for robust cybersecurity measures, particularly in sectors handling sensitive consumer data, as even a single breach can erode trust and incur substantial remediation costs.

Source: https://www.maine.gov/agviewer/content/ag/985235c7-cb95-4be2-8792-a1252b4f8318/aef0ee9a-fe6f-443e-bab0-833bf54e6add.shtml

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

"id": "par310091725",
"linkid": "paramountmarketing",
"type": "Cyber Attack",
"date": "12/2021",
"severity": "85",
"impact": "4",
"explanation": "Attack with significant impact with customers data leaks"

{'affected_entities': [{'customers_affected': 1190,
                        'name': 'Paramount Marketing Consultants, Inc.',
                        'type': 'Company'}],
 'attack_vector': 'External Hacking',
 'customer_advisories': 'Identity theft protection services offered to '
                        'affected individuals',
 'data_breach': {'number_of_records_exposed': 1190,
                 'personally_identifiable_information': True,
                 'sensitivity_of_data': 'High',
                 'type_of_data_compromised': ['Personal Information',
                                              'Social Security Numbers']},
 'date_publicly_disclosed': '2022-02-28',
 'description': 'The Maine Office of the Attorney General reported a data '
                'breach incident involving Paramount Marketing Consultants, '
                'Inc. The breach occurred between December 20 and December 26, '
                '2021, and potentially affected the personal information of '
                '1,190 individuals, including Social Security numbers. '
                'External hacking was identified as the method of breach, and '
                'identity theft protection services were offered to those '
                'affected.',
 'impact': {'data_compromised': ['Personal Information',
                                 'Social Security Numbers'],
            'identity_theft_risk': 'High (Identity theft protection services '
                                   'offered)'},
 'references': [{'source': 'Maine Office of the Attorney General'}],
 'regulatory_compliance': {'regulatory_notifications': 'Maine Office of the '
                                                       'Attorney General'},
 'response': {'recovery_measures': 'Identity theft protection services offered '
                                   'to affected individuals'},
 'title': 'Data Breach at Paramount Marketing Consultants, Inc.',
 'type': 'Data Breach'}