Several well-known Australian charities have unknowingly been caught up in a significant data breach.
Cybercriminals exploited a third-party service, Pareto Phone, to access thousands of donor records. Charities including the Cancer Council, Canteen, and The Fred Hollows Foundation confirmed that donor information collected through Pareto Phone was leaked on the dark web.
The breach occurred in April this year and compromised data points such as full names, birthdates, addresses, email addresses, and phone numbers.
The charity's internal systems are unaffected. They use advanced software and regular scans for protection. No financial misuse of compromised data is reported (Mascarenhas, 2023)
The Fred Hollows Foundation, no longer associated with Pareto Phone since 2014, found a small portion of their files exposed. Roughly 1700 donor records may be affected, excluding financial info.
The charity wasn't aware Pareto Phone retained the data, which is against the law. Data should be discarded when its purpose is fulfilled.
Source: news.com.au