Cementitious Vendor—CGM—Network Compromised by 315k Data Breach

  • By Steven
  • Published: Feb 21, 2024
  • Last Updated: Feb 23, 2024

CGM

Based in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, CGM is a nationwide cementitious vendor for industries and construction projects. They are a leader in manufacturing, labeling, and distributing custom cement and patching products. CGM also offers solutions for dry cementitious powders, construction liquids, and options for epoxy resins. At their physical facility, they process and package concrete construction products for their vast range of clients. These clients may now be at risk for data misuse following a 2022 data breach—an attack projected to impact as many as 315,346 individuals.

How Did the Attack Occur? 

The public can find details about the event via the Maine Attorney General’s breach filing since no statements or press releases are available on the CGM website. Maine has also published a sample consumer notice and updated event timeline as part of the filing. Regarding the attack itself, there is little detail available; the (ongoing) investigations determined that an unauthorized actor accessed the system, copied files, and presumably left before officials were aware. How the assailant accessed the systems is not indicated, which could suggest system vulnerabilities or network permissions misconfigurations. 

What Information Was Viewed or Stolen? 

The breach filing and the consumer notice list the same information as being impacted by this event—victims’ names and state ID numbers (or driver’s license numbers). Additionally, the consumer notice does not indicate who the “data owner” is. At the same time, while individuals own their data, the notice suggests that the information compromised in this event belongs to a third party. If this is the case, this event could cause a landslide of consequences for their clients. 

How Did CGM Admit to the Breach? 

According to the timeline presented in the consumer notices, the unauthorized actor accessed CGM’s systems from December 15th to December 28th, 2022. On or around December 28th, officials observed unusual activity within their network and launched a response to the threat. The preliminary investigation finished around March 23rd, 2023, with officials notifying impacted data owners of the event sometime in April 2023. Officials sent the first wave of individual notices around June 7th, 2023. A secondary data specialist reportedly completed an additional investigation around December 18th, 2023—and CGM notified further impacted parties around December 21st, 2023. Officials sent the second wave of notices around February 14th, 2024. 

What Will Become of the Stolen Information? 

The data compromised in this event may have many uses for a cybercriminal. They could misuse the data for impersonations or identity theft, and alternatively, the data could be for credential stuffing. Victims with ties to small businesses and other vendors have an exceptionally high risk for further victimization through credential stuffing and spear phishing. The best choice impacted parties have for responding to this event is taking action. 

What Should Affected Parties Do in the Aftermath of the Breach? 

CGM’s breach happened more than a year ago—there’s no telling what happened to the stolen data. The assailants could have sold it online, or they might have begun other criminal schemes with it; however, this doesn’t mean victims can’t do anything to protect themselves. Victims should reset their passwords and change their usernames wherever possible, enabling multi-factor authentications one one-time tokens. They should also consider account monitoring services for those accounts they can’t check daily. CGM’s attack may have happened more than a year ago, but victims still have time to implement account takeover prevention measures to protect their data from misuse.

About the Author
IDStrong Logo

Related Articles

Instagram Vulnerability Allowed Hackers Access to Control Your Phone

Security experts Check Point Research discovered a critical vulnerability while examining Instagra ... Read More

Alien Malware Infects More than 226 Mobile Apps and Steals Bank Data

As reported on September 24, 2020, by ZDNet and ThreatPost, a new strain of malware named “A ... Read More

Universal Health Systems Hit by Ransomware Attack

Universal Health Systems (UHS), a Fortune 500 company owning more than 400 hospitals across the co ... Read More

Exchange Server Bug Exposes a Big Risk to Hackers

Months after Microsoft released a patch to fix a serious flaw in MS Exchange Server, more than 61% ... Read More

Clients’ Bank Data Exposed in Blackbaud Ransomware Attack

Blackbaud software was victim to a ransomware attack last May, and new information suggests that c ... Read More

Latest Articles

What is Single Sign-On: The Benefits and Importance of Implementing SSO

What is Single Sign-On: The Benefits and Importance of Implementing SSO

Every day, more people get online - most do it for leisure, but organizations are increasingly moving into the digital environment.

Personal vs Sensitive Personal Information (SPI): What’s the Difference

Personal vs Sensitive Personal Information (SPI): What’s the Difference

What is there to know about a person? Certainly, their name, but how about their affiliations, philosophical beliefs, or sexual orientation?

What Is An On-Path Attack and How Does It Work? 

What Is An On-Path Attack and How Does It Work? 

Suppose someone left their home, got in their car, and drove to the grocery store. Much like data packets that travel over Internet highways, the car will use various pathways to reach its destination; however, once the car gets to the store, a question remains: what happened between the generating point and the destination?

Featured Articles

How to Buy a House with Bad Credit

How to Buy a House with Bad Credit

Buying your own home is the American Dream, but it might seem out of reach to those with bad credit. However, the good news is, if your credit is less than perfect, you do still have options and in most cases, can still buy a home.

How Secure Is Your Password? Tips to Improve Your Password Security

How Secure Is Your Password? Tips to Improve Your Password Security

Any good IT article on computers and network security will address the importance of strong, secure passwords. However, the challenge of good passwords is that most people have a hard time remembering them, so they use simple or obvious ones that pose a security risk.

Top 10 Senior Scams and How to Prevent Them

Top 10 Senior Scams and How to Prevent Them

Senior scams are becoming a major epidemic for two reasons. First, seniors often have a lot of money in the bank from a life of working hard and saving.

Free Identity Exposure Scan
Instantly and Securely Check if Your Personal Information is Exposed on the Dark Web or Sold by Data Brokers
Please enter first name
Please enter last name
Please select a state
Close
Free Identity Threat Scan
Instantly Check if Your Personal Information is Exposed
All fields below are required
Please enter first name
Please enter last name
Please enter a city
Please select a state
Please enter an age
Please enter an email address
Close