Security Experts:

Connect with us

Hi, what are you looking for?

SecurityWeekSecurityWeek

Ransomware

Blackbaud Fined $3M For ‘Misleading Disclosures’ About 2020 Ransomware Attack

Blackbaud has been slapped with a $3 million civil penalty by the SEC for “making misleading disclosures” about a 2020 ransomware attack that impacted more than 13,000 customers.

Malware Code Reuse

Cloud computing vendor Blackbaud has been slapped with a $3 million civil penalty by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) for making misleading disclosures about a 2020 ransomware attack that impacted more than 13,000 customers.

According to a statement from the SEC, the South Carolina-based Blackbaud was not forthcoming about the extent of the data-extortion malware attack and left out material information about the scope of the incident. 

In July 2020, Blackbaud confirmed it made a ransom payment to help with data recovery efforts after ransomware actors infected its corporate network.

“Our Cyber Security team—together with independent forensics experts and law enforcement—successfully prevented the cybercriminal from blocking our system access and fully encrypting files; and ultimately expelled them from our system. Prior to our locking the cybercriminal out, the cybercriminal removed a copy of a subset of data from our self-hosted environment,” the company said at the time.

Blackbaud’s incident notice, which has since been removed from its website, said the attackers did not access credit card data, bank account information or the social security numbers of its customers.

Now the SEC says it found Blackbaud’s claim that the ransomware attacker did not access donor bank account information or social security numbers to be misleading. 

From the SEC statement:

“Within days of these statements, however, the company’s technology and customer relations personnel learned that the attacker had in fact accessed and exfiltrated this sensitive information. These employees did not communicate this information to senior management responsible for its public disclosure because the company failed to maintain disclosure controls and procedures. 

Due to this failure, in August 2020, the company filed a quarterly report with the SEC that omitted this material information about the scope of the attack and misleadingly characterized the risk of an attacker obtaining such sensitive donor information as hypothetical.”

“Blackbaud failed to disclose the full impact of a ransomware attack despite its personnel learning that its earlier public statements about the attack were erroneous,” said David Hirsch, Chief of the SEC Enforcement Division’s Crypto Assets and Cyber Unit, noting that Blackbaud failed in its obligation to provide their investors with accurate and timely material information.

Without admitting or denying the SEC’s findings, Blackbaud agreed to cease and desist from committing violations and pay a $3 million civil penalty.

Related: Blackbaud Says Bank Account Data, SSNs Impacted in Ransomware Incident

Related: Cloud Company Blackbaud Pays Ransomware Operators to Avoid Data Leak

Related: FBI Warns of NetWalker Ransomware Targeting Businesses

Related: Law Enforcement, Cyber Insurance Powering Anti-Ransomware Success

Written By

Ryan Naraine is Editor-at-Large at SecurityWeek and host of the popular Security Conversations podcast series. He is a security community engagement expert who has built programs at major global brands, including Intel Corp., Bishop Fox and GReAT. Ryan is a founding-director of the Security Tinkerers non-profit, an advisor to early-stage entrepreneurs, and a regular speaker at security conferences around the world.

Click to comment

Daily Briefing Newsletter

Subscribe to the SecurityWeek Email Briefing to stay informed on the latest threats, trends, and technology, along with insightful columns from industry experts.

Join this webinar to learn best practices that organizations can use to improve both their resilience to new threats and their response times to incidents.

Register

Join this live webinar as we explore the potential security threats that can arise when third parties are granted access to a sensitive data or systems.

Register

Expert Insights

Related Content

Cybercrime

Satellite TV giant Dish Network confirmed that a recent outage was the result of a cyberattack and admitted that data was stolen.

Cybercrime

The changing nature of what we still generally call ransomware will continue through 2023, driven by three primary conditions.

Cybercrime

The FBI dismantled the network of the prolific Hive ransomware gang and seized infrastructure in Los Angeles that was used for the operation.

Management & Strategy

Industry professionals comment on the recent disruption of the Hive ransomware operation and its hacking by law enforcement.

Ransomware

The City of Oakland has disclosed a ransomware attack that impacted several non-emergency systems.

Ransomware

Dole was forced to shut down systems in North America due to a ransomware attack, which has reportedly led to salad shortages in some...

Ransomware

The personal and health information of more than 3.3 million individuals was stolen in a ransomware attack at Regal Medical Group.

Malware & Threats

Unpatched and unprotected VMware ESXi servers worldwide have been targeted in a ransomware attack exploiting a vulnerability patched in 2021.