FVCC Foundation data possibly hacked
A student walks by the Ross Hall Science & Technology building at Flathead Valley Community College in Kalispell on Wednesday, Nov. 29. (Casey Kreider/Daily Inter Lake)
A technology company used by Flathead Valley Community College was recently hacked, college officials announced on Wednesday.
According to a media release, the data security incident was experienced by Blackbaud, a third-party company that the FVCC Foundation uses for fundraising database services. The ransomware attack occurred in May, and according to the college, the company just recently notified the FVCC Foundation that some of its constituent data — possibly names and addresses — may have been compromised.
Blackbaud representatives said the cybercriminals did not have access to Social Security numbers, credit card information, bank account information or any passwords.
“The security and proper use of all information shared with us by members of the FVCC community remains a high priority,” FVCC President Jane Karas and Darlene Schottle with the FVCC Foundation.
“Based on the information that we have been provided, we believe that any threat to you is extremely minimal. However, we are informing you of this incident in the event you may want to take precautions.”
According to the college, Blackbaud has taken additional measures to assure their clients’ data is protected, including implementation of new “dark web” monitoring protocols to detect the trafficking of stolen data.