Security Notice – Potential Data Breach

Update date: March 22, 2021

Update to the ransomware attack suffered by J. Spargo & Associates, Inc. (“SPARGO”). The investigation is in its preliminary stages and still ongoing. The information being reported is subject to change. 

SPARGO is the registration provider various AFCEA International events.

Incident Background 

On March 14, 2021, SPARGO identified that our systems were impacted with encrypted files. SPARGO immediately launched an investigation, with the assistance of third-party specialists, and determined that it was impacted by the Sodinokibi ransomware variant. SPARGO also immediately notified the FBI and continue to work with them as they investigate. 

As a result of the cyberattack, the majority of our servers and files were encrypted, and our backups were unusable.  Utilizing a third-party investigation firm, we obtained a decryption key from the attackers and the decryption of our system is ongoing. 

Potentially Exposed Personal Information

The investigation into what data may have been accessed or acquired is ongoing. Information known to date regarding data exfiltration is based on information provided by the threat actor and has not been forensically verified or supplemented yet.

Potentially exposed information:

• Name 
• Address 
• Email address 
• Phone number 
• Fax number
• Job Title 
• Organizational Affiliation

Uncompromised Personal Information

As part of SPARGO’s workflow, it does not request or store any Social Security numbers or driver’s licenses of registrants. Further, SPARGO does not receive or store plain text credit card information. SPARGO’s credit cards are processed through Paypal, and SPARGO only ever receives tokenized card numbers. Further, the tokenized card numbers are not in the database in question.

Next Steps 

The investigation into this matter is very much ongoing. We will continue to update this webpage and if required, further outbound communication will be made to those impacted to keep them apprised of any developments in this matter. We appreciate your patience as we work through this unfortunate event.

Questions in this matter may be address to AFCEAdataUpdate@spargoinc.com. Please allow 24 hours for response.