University reports data breach with third-party provider
DePaul University Lincoln Park campus.
The Office of Advancement announced a data breach involving third-party service provider Blackbaud in a statement sent out to members of the DePaul community Thursday.
The company suffered from a “ransomware attack” in which backup files containing personal information from various institutions across the United States, Canada and the United Kingdom were obtained.
According to the statement, the incident apparently occurred between Feb. 7 and May 20, and Blackbaud “recently” notified the university of the breach.
The obtained files may have included names, addresses and relationship histories with DePaul, according to the statement.
“Blackbaud assures us that there is no reason to believe that any data was or will be misused or made available publicly, and that the cybercriminal did not access any highly sensitive financial information, such as credit card information, bank account information, or social security numbers,” the statement read.
University spokesperson Carol Hughes said the administration “has nothing further to add.”
Individuals are encouraged to report any suspicious activity that may be related to the breach to the proper authorities.
The statement said Blackbaud has already implemented security changes following the breach, and the university is “working directly” with the company to ensure data will be protected from such incidents going forward.
Haskell Nutweed • Aug 24, 2020 at 10:20 am
Man, is it only me, or does Ms. Carol Hughes have one of the toughest jobs known to woman kind? I mean, perpetually making silk purses out of sows’ ears, being asked, or just plain having to, comment on any one of a number of events that even the drunkest undergraduate could never make up and other similar sticky situations. The woman is my hero. Bless her heart.
I wonder how many non-tenured philosophy professors and Pig Latin studying undergraduates noticed the name of the service provider. “Blackbaud” is a completely racist name for a company and I am calling for all members of the DePaul community to boycott the entity here and now for as long as it takes for the gentried bourgeoisie founders of this organizatoin change its name to something less inciting. In fact, reparations should be paid to every black, yellow, brown, white, mauve and indigo student now too traumatized to emancipate him/her/itself from the basement to commence eLearning coursework at DePaul for six times the tuition charged at Wright Junior College at Naragansett and Irving Park Road.