Notice of Data Breach

What Happened
We were recently notified by one of our third-party service providers of a security incident. At this time, we understand they discovered and stopped a ransomware attack. After discovering the attack, the service provider’s Cyber Security team, together with independent forensics experts and law enforcement, successfully prevented the cybercriminal from blocking their system access and fully encrypting files; and ultimately expelled them from their system Prior to locking the cybercriminal out, the cybercriminal removed a copy of our backup file containing your personal information. This occurred at some point beginning on February 7, 2020, and could have been in there intermittently until May 20, 2020. 

What Information Was Involved 
It’s important to note that the cybercriminal did not access your credit card information, bank account information, or social security number since that information is not stored in our database. However, we have determined that the file removed may have contained your contact information, demographic information, and a history of your relationship with our organization, such as donation dates and amounts. Because protecting customers’ data is their top priority, our third-party service provider paid the cybercriminal’s demand with confirmation that the copy they removed had been destroyed. 10 Based on the nature of the incident, their research, and third party (including law enforcement) investigation, we have no reason to believe that any data went beyond the cybercriminal, was or will be misused, or will be disseminated or otherwise made available publicly. 

What We Are Doing 
We are notifying you so that you can take immediate action to protect yourself. Ensuring the safety of our constituents’ data is of the utmost importance to us. As part of their ongoing efforts to help prevent something like this from happening in the future, our third-party service provider has already implemented several changes that will protect your data from any subsequent incidents. First, the provider’s teams were able to quickly identify the vulnerability associated with this incident, including the tactics used by the cybercriminal, and took swift action to fix it. We have confirmed through testing by multiple third parties, including the appropriate platform vendors, that our fix withstands all known attack tactics. Additionally, they are accelerating our efforts to further harden their environment through enhancements to access management, network segmentation, deployment of additional endpoint and network-based platforms. 

What You Can Do 
As a best practice, we recommend you remain vigilant and promptly report any suspicious activity or suspected identity theft to us and to the proper law enforcement authorities. NYS Attorney General 1-800-771-7755; Department of State's Division of Consumer Protection (800) 697-1220. 

For More Information 
We sincerely apologize for this incident and regret any inconvenience it may cause you. Should you have any further questions or concerns regarding this matter and/or the protections available to you, please do not hesitate to contact Cindy Britz at 315-425-0818 or cbritz@verahouse.org.