Blackbaud, a company hired by Jewish Federation of St. Louis, was recently attacked by a cybercriminal who may have stolen Federation supporters’ personal information, according to a notice issued yesterday. 

Federation stated that it does not store credit card or bank account information and thus “that information was never in jeopardy.”

The cybercriminal removed community members’, including donors, personal information at some point between Feb. 7 and March 20. A third-party service provider recently discovered the breach and stopped a ransomware attack, but the criminal was able to obtain donors’ contact information, demographic information and a history of their relationship with Federation, such as donation dates and amounts.

The data breach was part of a larger string of attacks against Blackbaud, a cloud-based data storage and software provider for institutions of higher education and nonprofits like Federation.

Blackbaud paid the cybercriminal’s monetary demand and received confirmation that the copy of the removed files had been destroyed. 

Rick Jackoway, a spokesman for Federation, said other federation chapters around the United States were also affected by the attack.

The Dallas Morning News reported that the George W. Bush Presidential Center, Boy Scouts of America, the Texas Tech Foundation and the University of Texas at Austin had also been attacked.

And on Monday, the Missouri Historical Society notified donors that their information may also have been compromised because of a similar data breach, according to the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. 

Federation recommended that people promptly report any suspicious activity or suspected identity theft to law enforcement authorities. The Attorney General for the State of Missouri can be reached at: ago.mo.gov or 573-751-3321. The major national credit reporting services are: TransUnion (transunion.com); Equifax (Equifax.com) and Experian (Experian.com)

People with questions or concerns can also contact Diana Matthis, Federation manager of technology and central services at 314-442-3882 or [email protected].