Greenwich Hospital today announced that it is among the large number of organizations affected by a Blackbaud data breach. Blackbaud is a software company the hospital has long used for donor communications and engagement. No personal financial information such as bank account, Social Security numbers or credit card information was involvedin this incident.
Unfortunately, the occurrence and sophistication of cybercrimes has increased significantly in recent years. This particular breach was part of a global security incident that affected many of Blackbaud’s 35,000 worldwide clients. Greenwich Hospital was notified by Blackbaud on August 12, 2020 that an unauthorized party had removed non-financial information as part of a ransomware attack on Blackbaud systems at some point between February 7 and May 20, 2020. Yale New Haven Health System (YNHHS) immediately undertook an extensive internal investigation to determine what information was potentially exposed and which people were affected.
Blackbaud made a payment in response to a demand from the outside party. Blackbaud has been assured that all data were destroyed and they do not believe any information has been disseminated in any manner. However, Greenwich Hospital has not yet been able to independently validate that assurance. In the meantime, Greenwich Hospital will review its relationship with Blackbaud.
Certain demographic information such as names, addresses, phone numbers, dates of birth and philanthropic history were included in the Blackbaud databases subject to the incident. Additionally, there may have been a small number of individuals with information related to the name of an individual’s doctor or dates of service at the hospital. As this cyberattack was on Blackbaud’s system, the attackers never, at any time, had access to the Yale New Haven Health’s electronic medical record system.
Greenwich Hospital truly regrets any inconvenience this has caused. As a premier healthcare provider, we strive to demonstrate respect for patients and our community and to always safeguard that information. Given the elements involved in the incident, we do not believe that there are any steps that our community needs to take to protect their information. Letters have been mailed to all those whose information was involved in this incident and if anyone has any concern, they can call 888-479-3536.
Additional information related to the Blackbaud breach can be found here https://www.blackbaud.com/securityincident.
Yale New Haven Health is still investigating to determine if any other hospitals in our health system were affected and will share that information as soon as it is available.