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Response to Blackbaud Data Security Incident
Central Catholic High School
Pittsburgh, PA
August 11, 2020
Response to Blackbaud Data Security Incident
On July 16, 2020, Central Catholic High School was notified by its third-party vendor, Blackbaud Inc., that Blackbaud had been the target of a data security incident involving cybercriminals in May 2020. Blackbaud is one of the world’s largest providers of education administration, fundraising and financial management software for non-profits. Central Catholic was one of many organizations, from around the world, impacted by this cyber-attack aimed at extorting funds from Blackbaud.
The cybercriminals were able to access a subset of Blackbaud’s data, which included some of Central Catholic High School’s donor and prospective donor data. Central Catholic did not provide any credit card information, bank account information or social security numbers to Blackbaud and does not retain or store this information in our donor and alumni records. However, some personal information collected by Central Catholic, such as such as demographic information and philanthropic history, was in the Blackbaud database and could have been temporarily accessed during the attack.
We have been informed by Blackbaud that their Cyber Security team engaged with independent forensics experts and law enforcement to expel the cybercriminals from the system. Ultimately, Blackbaud paid the cybercriminal’s demand with confirmation that the copy they removed from the system had been destroyed. For additional information about this incident and Blackbaud’s response, please visit Blackbaud’s website (https://www.blackbaud.com/securityincident .)
Although there has been no data breach as to Central Catholic, and this communication is not required by law, we felt that it was important to advise you about this incident and what we have done in response to it. We take the security of personal data very seriously, and we regret any inconvenience this may cause any member of the Central Catholic community. Upon learning of this incident on July 16, Central Catholic immediately began an investigation to understand what data had been compromised, and we will continue to take all necessary action with respect to this incident. Central Catholic hired independent legal counsel, Eckert Seamans, to advise the school on this incident. Central Catholic will continue to remain in close contact with Blackbaud regarding their security incident, and we will follow up with anyone from our community we believe may have been directly impacted.
If you have any questions or concerns, please contact the Office of Advancement at advancement@centralcatholichs.com, and we will get back to you as quickly as possible.