Name: Bush Presidential Center, Boy Scouts, Texas Tech, UT Austin hit in Blackbaud ransomware attack
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Bush Presidential Center, Boy Scouts, Texas Tech, UT Austin hit in Blackbaud ransomware attack

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1:17 PM on Aug 3, 2020 CDT — Updated at 11:00 AM on Aug 6, 2020 CDTUpdated Aug. 10 to include the Communities Foundation of Texas among the nonprofits involved in the computer hack. inclusion in the impact of the attack.The George W. Bush Presidential Center, Boy Scouts of America, the Communities Foundation of Texas the Texas Tech Foundation and the University of Texas at Austin have notified donors that they are a part of a growing list of nonprofits and universities affected by a ransomware attack.South Carolina-based Blackbaud, one of the world’s largest cloud-based data storage and software providers for institutions of higher education and nonprofits, to clients and the public on July 16 that it was the subject of a ransomware attack in May, two months after the fact.The attack hit more than 200 institutions across the globe, according to the Texas Tech Foundation, the university’s fundraising arm. UT Austin said it on Monday and UT Arlington emailed alumni Tuesday about being impacted by the attack. Texas State University and the Texas Health Resources Foundation also was affected by the attack, as were the ACLU, the Cancer Research Institute, the Louisiana Tech University Foundation and others.In an email to donors on Aug. 10, the Communities Foundation of Texas said the ransomware attack involved as many as 1,500 of Blackbaud’s nonprofit clients.In Texas, the hack may have indirectly exposed the personal information of tens of millions. Irving-based Boy Scouts of America alone has an alumni network of 50 million, according to its .In a sent to donors, which cited Blackbaud, the Boy Scouts said, “the data security incident started on February 7, 2020, and possibly continued intermittently until May 20, 2020.”Blackbaud said in a statement that it didn’t discover the attack until May and managed to prevent cybercriminals from “fully encrypting files.” In a ransomware attack, the perpetrator gains access to a victim’s data, locks it up through encryption and holds it hostage until the victim pays a ransom.Blackbaud declined The Dallas Morning News’ request for comment.“We apologize that this happened and will continue to do our very best to supply help and support as we and our customers jointly navigate this cybercrime incident,” Blackbaud said in a statement on its website.Donors’ names, titles, dates of birth, phone numbers and email addresses may have been exposed by the data breach, multiple institutions said.The hackers responsible for the breach didn’t access credit card information, bank account information or Social Security numbers, to Blackbaud.The Bush Center doesn’t believe donors’ personal information will be used for other purposes given the hackers’ intent to collect a ransom, it said in a July 30 email about the data breach. Located at Southern Methodist University, the center is home to George W. Bush’s presidential library as well as the George W. Bush Policy Institute and the George W. Bush Foundation.“Even though we do not believe that your personal information has been subjected to misuse or further unauthorized access due to this incident, out of an abundance of caution and in light of our respect for your privacy, we wanted to advise you of this incident,” the Bush Center email said.Blackbaud has paid an undisclosed sum to the hackers responsible for the data breach, and said it believes the cybercriminal has deleted the stolen data. It’s hired a third party to monitor the dark web for evidence that compromised data is being sold, according to the Bush Center.The average ransomware payout at the start of 2020 was $111,605, according to cyber security firm . Hackers generally seek payment in bitcoin, a digital currency.The Texas Tech Foundation said it also wasn’t “aware of any instances of fraudulent activity connected to the foundation’s data.”The foundation launched its own investigation into the breach and is notifying affected alumni and donors, according to a July 28 . Texas State has launched its own investigation into the data breach as well, to the university’s student publication The University Star.In a , Blackbaud CEO Mike Gianoni told investors that “like a lot of companies, we get millions of intrusion attempts a month.”“Unfortunately one got in to a subset of our customers and a subset of our backup environment,” he said.Blackbaud, which has a hub in Austin, reported more than 45,000 global customers last year, including nonprofits, foundations, companies, education institutions and health care organizations. Its revenue totaled $900 million last year.Become a business insider. Get the latest headlines delivered to your inbox every weekday.By signing up you agree to our

1:17 PM on Aug 3, 2020 CDT — Updated at 11:00 AM on Aug 6, 2020 CDTUpdated Aug. 10 to include the Communities Foundation of Texas among the nonprofits involved in the computer hack. inclusion in the impact of the attack.The George W. Bush Presidential Center, Boy Scouts of America, the Communities Foundation of Texas the Texas Tech Foundation and the University of Texas at Austin have notified donors that they are a part of a growing list of nonprofits and universities affected by a ransomware attack.South Carolina-based Blackbaud, one of the world’s largest cloud-based data storage and...

Bush Presidential Center, Boy Scouts, Texas Tech, UT Austin hit in Blackbaud ransomware attack

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