Virginia Hospital Center (VHC), a community-based hospital providing medical services to the Washington, DC metropolitan area for 75 years, has recently learned of an information security incident experienced by one of its vendors.
Blackbaud, Inc., a world-wide vendor that provides nonprofit and charitable organizations with cloud-based solution services related to donor and fundraising activities, recently informed VHC of an incident in which an unauthorized party gained access to Blackbaud’s systems between February 7 and May 20, 2020. Blackbaud informed VHC that the unauthorized party may have acquired a backup of the database that compromises certain limited elements of VHC’s donor and fundraising information, as may be the case with other nonprofits affected by this incident worldwide.
Virginia Hospital Center stores personal information, such as name, address, telephone numbers, email addresses, and, in some cases, date of birth of donors and the last four digits of their credit card. As a result, Virginia Hospital Center is notifying affected individuals.
Blackbaud has assured VHC that based on the nature of the incident as well as by research undertaken by a third-party data security firm and the FBI, that there is no reason to believe that any data involved in this incident went beyond the authorized party. Additionally, they have informed VHC that the issue that allowed the incident to occur has been resolved and that security protocols are being enhanced to prevent these incidents from happening in the future.
VHC will be evaluating its own security protocols and will continue to conduct appropriate oversight of our vendors to safeguard patient’s personal information to protect patient privacy and security. As a best practice, VHC recommends that individuals remain vigilant in reviewing their financial accounts and reporting any suspicious activity.
For any questions or concerns, Blackbaud has created a dedicated site for the incident, or a dedicated assistance line can be called at 855.668.0130 open Monday through Friday, 8 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. Eastern Time, excluding major U.S. holidays.
Virginia Hospital Center takes the privacy and security of its patients and donors seriously and has always handled any personal information stored in methods consistent with best practice and industry standards.