Incident Report CCN-BR-0924

Compliance
Risk Management
Data Protection
HIPAA Mappings to CloudCore Policies and Controls Below is a list of HIPAA Safeguards and Requirements and the CloudCore policies and controls in place to meet those.
Title Incident Report
Doc# DOC-DATA-024
Version 1.0
Date 15-09-2024

CloudCore Networks Incident Report

Incident ID: CCN-BR-0924
Report Date: September 14, 2024
Incident Reported By: Network Operations Center (NOC) Team
Severity Level: Critical
Affected Systems: Customer Database, User Authentication System
Status: Contained and Under Investigation

1. Overview of the Incident

On September 12, 2024, CloudCore Networks detected unusual activity involving unauthorised access to the customer database. The breach was discovered when automated monitoring systems flagged a spike in database queries originating from an internal network segment typically reserved for administrative purposes. Upon further investigation, it was revealed that the attackers had gained access using compromised credentials of a senior system administrator.

2. Timeline of Events

  • September 11, 2024, 14:00: A phishing email was sent to multiple employees, crafted to appear as a security update notice from CloudCore’s internal IT team. The email contained a link to a malicious website mimicking the company’s login portal.

  • September 11, 2024, 14:30: A senior system administrator, John Doe, unknowingly clicked on the phishing link and entered his credentials on the fake portal. The attacker immediately captured these credentials.

  • September 11, 2024, 15:00: The attacker used John Doe’s credentials to log into CloudCore’s network via the VPN, bypassing multi-factor authentication due to the senior-level access privileges that were not properly configured for MFA enforcement.

  • September 11, 2024, 16:00: The attacker escalated privileges to gain access to the customer database using John Doe’s admin credentials. Data exfiltration scripts were executed to export customer records.

  • September 12, 2024, 09:00: The NOC team’s automated monitoring systems detected an unusual volume of database queries and flagged the activity as suspicious. An alert was generated.

  • September 12, 2024, 09:15: The Security Operations Center (SOC) initiated an investigation into the alert and confirmed unauthorised access to the customer database. Immediate actions were taken to contain the breach by revoking access privileges and isolating the compromised accounts.

  • September 12, 2024, 10:00: The incident was escalated to the incident response team, who began a comprehensive forensic investigation to assess the extent of the breach and identify vulnerabilities.

3. Extent of Data Compromised

  • Approximately 250,000 customer records were compromised, including personally identifiable information (PII) such as names, addresses, emails, phone numbers, and payment information.
  • No encrypted data was directly exposed; however, the attacker had access to decryption keys stored within the compromised environment.
  • No system integrity alterations were detected, but the risk of data manipulation remains under investigation.

4. Immediate Actions Taken

  • All compromised accounts were disabled, and passwords reset protocols were initiated across the affected systems.
  • Multi-factor authentication enforcement was immediately expanded to include all administrative access accounts.
  • The affected database was taken offline to prevent further unauthorised access, and a backup restoration process was started.
  • An incident response team was deployed to conduct a full forensic analysis and identify the root cause.

5. Technical Details and Logs

Log Entry Sample - VPN Access:

Sep 11 15:00:03 CCN-VPN-01: User 'jdoe' authenticated from IP 192.168.100.101 via VPN. Authentication method: password.
Sep 11 15:00:05 CCN-VPN-01: MFA check bypassed for user 'jdoe' due to admin-level privilege exception.

Log Entry Sample - Database Queries:

Sep 11 16:02:47 DB-Server-01: QUERY - SELECT * FROM customer_data WHERE sensitive_info = 'true';
Sep 11 16:05:30 DB-Server-01: EXPORT - User 'jdoe_admin' executed data export script on customer_data table.

Error Messages: - System Alert: “Unusual query volume detected on DB-Server-01. Review required.” - SOC Alert: “Potential data breach detected. User ‘jdoe_admin’ executing high-risk operations. Immediate containment required.”

6. Vulnerabilities Identified

  • Phishing Vulnerability: Lack of robust email filtering and user training on identifying phishing attempts.
  • MFA Gaps: Inconsistent enforcement of multi-factor authentication, particularly for senior-level administrative accounts.
  • Access Control Weaknesses: Overly broad administrative privileges and failure to adhere to the principle of least privilege.
  • Monitoring and Response Delay: Initial detection was delayed due to the failure of real-time monitoring to prioritise anomalous behavior adequately.

7. Next Steps

  • A detailed audit of all user accounts and access privileges is underway to tighten security controls.
  • Immediate rollout of enhanced security training for all employees, focusing on phishing awareness and secure access practices.
  • Comprehensive review and upgrade of the current MFA implementation to ensure uniform enforcement across all access levels.
  • Full incident report to be compiled with recommendations for further security improvements and presented to the executive board.