To the Stevens Community:

I am writing to notify you of a data security incident at Blackbaud Inc., a third-party vendor that hosts fundraising and relationship management platforms for the Stevens Institute of Technology and thousands of other non-profit organizations. You may have received similar notices from other organizations that were also impacted by the Blackbaud incident. Blackbaud informed us that they discovered and prevented a ransomware attack; however, prior to the attempted attack, the cybercriminals acquired a database backup and held that for ransom. According to Blackbaud, it paid the cybercriminals, and confirmed the cybercriminals destroyed the database backup.

Upon learning of the incident from Blackbaud, we immediately took action and commenced an investigation to determine what information was involved in the incident. Blackbaud informed us that the incident may have resulted in unauthorized access to or acquisition of some information, including names, addresses, email addresses, phone numbers, birthdays, donation history, event attendance history, and volunteer roles. We are working to confirm that no personal information may have been involved in this incident. Blackbaud informed us that sensitive data, such as Social Security numbers, bank account numbers, and credit card information, were encrypted and were therefore inaccessible to the cybercriminals. However, in the event we determine any personal information was impacted, we will provide an additional notification to all affected individuals as soon as practicable.

Blackbaud has assured us of its commitment to prevent future security incidents and has implemented several changes to better protect your data. Blackbaud represented that its teams quickly identified and remediated the vulnerability exploited by the cybercriminals. Additionally, Blackbaud notes that it is accelerating its efforts to further secure its environment including restricting access to systems, network segmentation, and deployment of additional endpoint and network-based monitoring tools. We will continue to work with Blackbaud to mitigate any further risk of exposure and sincerely regret any inconvenience this incident may cause you.

Please do not hesitate to contact the Division of Development and Alumni Engagement at 201-216-5241 from 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. ET if you have questions.

Sincerely,

Laura Rose
Vice President for Development and Alumni Engagement