Nearly $1 million was stolen from CHET — Connecticut Higher Education Trust — accounts during a security breach and 21 account holders were affected, according to the Office of the State Treasurer. Connecticut State Treasurer Denise Nappier said that TIAA-CREF Tuition Financing, Inc., the CHET Direct program manager, alerted the state Treasury about the breach and will restore the affected accounts. Nappier said unauthorized individuals gained online access to 21 CHET account holders and made 44 withdrawals, amounting to a total of $1,416,635, of that, $442,540 was recovered or stopped.
Andy Norton, Director of Threat Intelligence at Lastline:
“The Connecticut Higher Education Trust, is one of the top ten 529 education savings plans in the US, there are around 3000 plans to choose from, no details of the method of intrusion have been published however there appears to be residual evidence of a phishing campaign. This should sound alarm bells for the other Education plan providers in the US, getting away with $1 million will put a target on them too.
Some 529 plans have made 2 factor authentication mandatory, and this would seem like a good measure to raise the bar in preventing these type of attacks being successful.”
ISBuzz Team embodies the collaborative efforts of the dedicated staff at Information Security Buzz, converging a wide range of skills and viewpoints to present a unified, engaging voice in the information security realm. This entity isn't tied to a single individual; instead, it's a dynamic embodiment of a team diligently working behind the scenes to keep you updated and secure. When you read a post from ISBuzz Team, you're receiving the most relevant and actionable insights, curated and crafted by professionals tuned in to the pulse of the cybersecurity world. ISBuzz Team - your reliable compass in the fast-evolving landscape of information security
To provide the best experiences, we use technologies like cookies to store and/or access device information. Consenting to these technologies will allow us to process data such as browsing behavior or unique IDs on this site. Not consenting or withdrawing consent, may adversely affect certain features and functions.
Functional
Always active
The technical storage or access is strictly necessary for the legitimate purpose of enabling the use of a specific service explicitly requested by the subscriber or user, or for the sole purpose of carrying out the transmission of a communication over an electronic communications network.
Preferences
The technical storage or access is necessary for the legitimate purpose of storing preferences that are not requested by the subscriber or user.
Statistics
The technical storage or access that is used exclusively for statistical purposes.The technical storage or access that is used exclusively for anonymous statistical purposes. Without a subpoena, voluntary compliance on the part of your Internet Service Provider, or additional records from a third party, information stored or retrieved for this purpose alone cannot usually be used to identify you.
Marketing
The technical storage or access is required to create user profiles to send advertising, or to track the user on a website or across several websites for similar marketing purposes.