Executive Summary

Conduent Business Services, LLC, a significant provider of business process services to government agencies, has confirmed a major data breach that exposed the sensitive personal and medical information of more than 10 million people. The company discovered the incident on January 13, 2025, after identifying unauthorized access to its network that occurred over a nearly three-month period. The exfiltrated data includes highly sensitive information such as Social Security numbers and health data, placing millions of individuals at high risk of identity theft and fraud. The breach is now under investigation by federal law enforcement and has prompted legal action from consumer rights law firms.

Threat Overview

The breach occurred between October 21, 2024, and January 13, 2025, during which an unauthorized third party maintained access to Conduent's systems. The threat actor successfully exfiltrated a large volume of files containing Personally Identifiable Information (PII) and Protected Health Information (PHI). The attack vector has not been publicly disclosed, but the prolonged access suggests a failure in detection and response controls. The victims are individuals whose data was processed by Conduent on behalf of its various government clients across the United States. Notifications have been filed in multiple states, including Oregon, Massachusetts, California, Texas, Washington, and New Hampshire, indicating the widespread nature of the breach.

Technical Analysis

While specific TTPs were not released by Conduent, the nature of the attack—prolonged network access followed by large-scale data exfiltration—is characteristic of many financially motivated cybercrime groups or ransomware operations conducting double extortion.

Potential attack chain based on similar incidents:

1. Initial Access: Likely achieved through exploiting a public-facing application (T1190 - Exploit Public-Facing Application), a phishing campaign (T1566 - Phishing), or the use of stolen credentials (T1078 - Valid Accounts).
2. Persistence & Privilege Escalation: After gaining a foothold, the actor would establish persistence and escalate privileges to gain broader access to the network.
3. Discovery: The actor would have spent significant time mapping the network and identifying high-value data repositories, as evidenced by the three-month dwell time.
4. Data Collection & Exfiltration: The threat actor located and staged sensitive files before exfiltrating them to an external location (T1567.002 - Exfiltration to Cloud Storage). The complexity of the stolen files noted by Conduent suggests the data was taken from multiple, disparate systems.

Impact Assessment

The impact of this breach is severe. The exposure of over 10 million individuals' Social Security numbers, medical data, and health insurance information creates a significant, long-term risk of identity theft, financial fraud, and sophisticated phishing attacks. For Conduent, the financial impact will be substantial, including costs for forensic investigation, credit monitoring services for victims, regulatory fines (potentially under HIPAA and state laws), and legal fees from class-action lawsuits. The reputational damage is also immense, potentially jeopardizing its lucrative contracts with government agencies who are under pressure to ensure the security of their supply chain.

Cyber Observables for Detection

Organizations can hunt for similar types of breaches by monitoring for the following activities:

Detection & Response

• Detection: Implement a Security Information and Event Management (SIEM) system to correlate logs from various sources. Use User and Entity Behavior Analytics (UEBA) to detect anomalous account behavior, such as logins from unusual locations or access to data outside of normal working hours. Deploy network traffic analysis tools to baseline normal data flows and alert on significant deviations indicative of exfiltration. A key D3FEND technique is D3-NTA: Network Traffic Analysis to identify suspicious outbound connections.

• Response: Upon detecting suspicious activity, an organization's incident response plan should prioritize isolating the affected systems to prevent further data loss. Forensic data should be preserved for investigation. Communication with legal counsel, law enforcement, and regulatory bodies must be initiated promptly. Conduent's engagement of