Cyber Incident Victim: Arpin International Group

On or about April 8, 2023, the computer systems of Arpin International Group, Inc. were compromised in an external system breach. The unauthorized access to the company's network continued until approximately April 14, 2023. The breach was not discovered until August 10, 2023, nearly four months after the initial intrusion and subsequent exfiltration of data had concluded. The entity, a commercial organization based at 99 James P. Murphy Highway in West Warwick, Rhode Island, was the victim of a hacking incident. The specific technical vector of the attack and the identity of the threat actor were not disclosed in the official notification.

The investigation into the security event determined that the attacker successfully acquired sensitive personal information. The compromised data consisted of names or other personal identifiers in combination with Social Security Numbers. The breach impacted a total of 4,261 individuals. Among this affected population, three were identified as residents of the state of Maine. The number of affected Maine residents did not exceed 1,000, therefore a notification to consumer reporting agencies was not required under the circumstances as detailed in the report.

The response to the incident involved a formal written notification process directed at all affected consumers. The company, through its legal counsel Meghan Farally, Esq., a Partner at Cipriani & Werner, PC, undertook the responsibility of informing individuals whose data was exposed. The mailing of these notifications occurred over a period of days, spanning from September 18, 2023, to September 29, 2023. This timeline indicates that approximately five weeks elapsed between the discovery of the breach and the initiation of consumer notifications.

As a remedial measure to assist the victims of the data breach, Arpin International Group offered complimentary identity theft protection services. The offering consisted of 12 months of credit monitoring and identity protection services. The specific provider of these services was not named in the submitted documentation. This offering is a common practice intended to help affected individuals monitor their financial accounts and personal information for signs of fraudulent activity that may stem from the exposure of their Social Security Numbers.

The official report filed with the Maine Attorney General’s office confirmed that this was the only breach notification submitted by Arpin International Group within a twelve-month period preceding this incident. The document submitted as evidence of the consumer notification was titled “ELN-19331 Arpin Adult CM 12 Mo r1prf.pdf”. The breach was categorized under the state’s reporting mechanism as involving an external system breach, explicitly attributed to hacking. The full scope of the attack, including whether other types of personal data beyond names and Social Security Numbers were accessed, was not elaborated upon in the available public filing. The consequences of the breach were limited to the potential misuse of the stolen personally identifiable information, with no additional details provided regarding any operational or financial impacts sustained by Arpin International Group itself as a direct result of the cyber attack.