On Thursday, July 16, 2020, the EFC received word that Blackbaud, one of the world's largest fundraising and financial management software companies, had been the victim of a cyberattack in May. Blackbaud is a service provider of the EFC, and the incident impacted backup data from the EFC.
We have been in communication with Blackbaud to assess the incident and Blackbaud's response.
Blackbaud has been working with law enforcement officials since the ransomware attack occurred. The information that was held for ransom included donor names, contact information and donation history. The Blackbaud investigation concluded that the data breach did not go further than the cybercriminal, to whom they paid a ransom to have the data destroyed, plus assurances that no copies were retained, disclosed or misused.
Importantly, the data did not include bank account or donor credit card information.
Out of an abundance of caution and to honour the trust so many have placed in the EFC, we wanted to share this information.
Like the other charities and educational institutions who also had data compromised by this breach, we are currently working with Blackbaud to understand more details about the incident, whether there is any potential remaining risk to any EFC donor information, and what is being done by Blackbaud to prevent incidents like this in the future.
Blackbaud's own media release about the incident also provides further information and can be accessed online. You can also find updates on the EFC site, on a page we created to give our donors the most up-to-date information.
The EFC regrets any concern or inconvenience caused to our constituents by what happened to Blackbaud, who has provided service to us for over 19 years. While we are currently assured that there is little risk to the EFC community, we would always recommend to stay vigilant about any suspicious activity and report concerns to local law enforcement.
Cybersecurity attacks are increasingly common. But they make everyone who has data stored online - and that is all of us in today's world - feel very vulnerable. We understand this completely. Our highest priority is protecting our donors as we work together on our mission in Canada.
We will continue to update you if any further information is forthcoming from Blackbaud. Please be assured that it is safe to make online donations because online donation processes were not compromised and Blackbaud has addressed the security issue.
If you have any questions, please email us at efc@theefc.ca or call us toll free at 1-866-302-3362 and we would be happy to address those and speak with you further.
Blackbaud information