Sisters of Charity Health System Informs Patients of Data Breach

As the year unfolds, more victims of the Blackbaud data breach come forward. The Sisters of Charity Health System (SCHS) recently disclosed that intruders may have accessed backup copies used by SCHS for fundraising during the cyberattack on their third-party cloud service provider.

“On July 16, 2020, Blackbaud informed us it had discovered that an unauthorized individual had gained access to Blackbaud’s systems between February 7 and May 20, 2020, and may have acquired backup copies of databases used by its customers, including backups of the databases that SCHS entities use for fundraising efforts,” SCHS said.

According to a notice, the attack on Blackbaud may have affected SCHS entities including Mercy Medical Center, Providence Hospitals, St. Vincent Charity Medical Center, Building Healthy Communities, Early Childhood Resource Center, Healthy Learners, Joseph’s Home, Light of Hearts Villa, Regina Health Center, and South Carolina Center for Fathers and Families.

SCHS also notes that the database involved in the incident may have included patients” names, gender, date of birth, contact information and treating physicians.

“The database may have also contained information about relationships with SCHS entities such as donation history, volunteer service and employment, if any,” SCHS added.

Sisters of Charity Health System has assured patients that the data security incident only impacted constituent and donor databases, and no access to medical systems or protected health records was detected. All sensitive information, such as Social Security numbers, credit card numbers, and financial account information, was encrypted and not accessible to the attackers.

While Blackbaud may have paid the attackers’ ransom demands to delete any stolen data permanently, affected individuals should remain vigilant against any suspicious communication via email, text, or phone calls.

In response to the data breach, SCHS has emailed all impacted patients and has set up a dedicated customer service number to assist with any questions or concerns.