Cyber attack on Food For The Poor impacted over 50,000 individuals

Non-profit organisation Food for the Poor said a data security incident it suffered in September last year compromised the sensitive personal information of more than 50,000 individuals.

 

Headquartered in Coconut Creek, Florida, Food For The Poor is an ecumenical Christian charitable organisation that provides food, medicine, and shelter, among other services, to the poor in Latin America and the Caribbean.

In a data security incident notice filed with the Office of Maine Attorney General, FFP said that on September 6, it identified  unusual activity within its internal network. The organisation immediately launched an investigation, with assistance from external cyber security experts, to determine the nature and scope of the incident. 

 

“The investigation determined there was unauthorised access to a portion of our network between September 2, 2024, and September 6, 2024,” the nonprofit said.

 

According to Food For The Poor, the compromised data included names, Social Security numbers, driver’s license/state ID numbers, passport numbers, tax ID numbers, financial account numbers, payment card numbers, healthcare information, and health insurance information.

 

The NGO said in its filing with the Maine state regulator that it has so far identified at least 52,286 individuals who were impacted by the incident.

 

“In response to this incident, we conducted an investigation and notified law enforcement. We also reset network passwords and reviewed our policies and procedures,’ FFP added.

 

The charitable organisation has advised all affected individuals to regularly monitor their credit reports, account and benefit statements and report any suspicious activity to law enforcement authorities, including the police and the state attorney general. It has also offered one year of complimentary identity protection and credit monitoring services through TransUnion to all affected individuals.

 

At the time of publishing, no known hacker group claimed responsibility for the cyber attack on FFP. The organisation also did not share details on who was behind the attack, how much data was compromised, or whether it has received a ransom demand.