MCLA Foundation Vendor Targeted in Ransomware Hit

The Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts Foundation is one of several organizations whose information was recently impacted by a ransomware event that involved one of its vendors.

That vendor, Blackbaud, a cloud database fundraising management tool that provides services to many university foundations and nonprofit organizations, notified the MCLA Foundation about the incident on July 16.

Ransomware was deployed within its environment in May and some of its data was exfiltrated out of its systems, Blackbaud said. Information involving Social Security numbers, payment card data and financial account information was not impacted, the company said.

Blackbaud encrypts most of the data that it stores, but some of the less sensitive fields are left impacted. An explanation of the incident can be found on the company's website.

In an email to members, MCLA Foundation President Robert P. Ziomek said the foundation is "frustrated" with the way Blackbaud handled this matter, but is continuing to work with the company to acquire additional information about the incident and confirm that there is a low risk to members' information. The foundation is also reviewing its relationship with Blackbaud, Ziomek said.