VANCOUVER -- A local cancer charity has been impacted by a cyberattack, the foundation said in an email to supporters Wednesday.
In the email, the BC Cancer Foundation says one of its third-party service providers, Blackbaud, was recently targeted by a ransomware attack. Many of that company's clients were impacted, including the BC Cancer Foundation.
The foundation says it "recently" learned of the attack, which happened in May.
"The incident involved a cybercriminal who removed data for the purpose of extorting funds from Blackbaud, one of the world's largest providers of education administration, fundraising and financial management software for non-profits," the B.C. charity said.
"Blackbaud paid a ransom in exchange for the deletion of the extracted data."
The cancer foundation says no credit card information was compromised as it's not stored in Blackbaud's database. No other financial information, usernames or passwords were accessed.
However, names, addresses, emails, phone numbers, demographic information and donation history may have been accessed in the breach.
"Blackbaud has hired a third-party team of experts to monitor the dark web as an extra precautionary measure," the foundation said.
"In addition, BC Cancer Foundation has dark web monitoring underway for activity related to the data."
After an investigation, both Blackbaud and law enforcement officials say they don't believe data was transferred beyond the cybercriminal. The BC Cancer Foundation says it's notified the Office of The Information and Privacy Commissioner of B.C. about the breach.
"We sincerely apologize for this incident," the foundation said. "We are committed to keeping you informed and will notify you of any further and relevant information from Blackbaud."
