Blackbaud Data Breach Class Action Lawsuit Claims Negligence

Blackbaud Inc. and Blackbaud Canada Inc. have been hit with a data breach class action lawsuit over an alleged ransomware attack in 2020 that enabled an unauthorized party to access consumers’ personal information.

According to the data breach class action lawsuit Canada, Blackbaud is an American software company that provides a variety of fundraising, financial and data management services to charitable, academic and social organizations in Canada, the United States and the United Kingdom. Blackbaud collects personal information that is received from these client organizations. A Blackbaud ransomware class action lawsuit investigation is underway in the U.S. regarding the data breach. 

Blackbaud Ransomware Attack

Blackbaud was reportedly targeted by a ransomware attack in May 2020, during which an unauthorized party allegedly copied, encrypted and removed consumers’ personal information.

On July 16, 2020, Blackbaud announced that cybercriminals had stolen some of its data and Blackbaud paid a ransom in return for assurances that the cybercriminals would destroy the data they copied from Blackbaud’s servers and that the ill-gotten data had not and would not be misused.

Names, addresses, drivers’ licence information, employment history, credit card information, spousal identity, estimated wealth, identified assets, and users’ history of philanthropic and political gift-giving information was among the information allegedly compromised in the Blackbaud data breach.

Because Blackbaud has reportedly not publicly identified the cybercriminals responsible for the data breach, the Blackbaud class action lawsuit says that the “basis of Blackbaud’s public assurance that the unnamed cybercriminals have returned or destroyed all misappropriated Personal Information has not been explained, much less guaranteed.”

Class Action Lawsuit: Blackbaud Failed to Safeguard Data

Plaintiff Stefan Wittman of British Columbia says he had donated money and provided his personal information to BC Cancer Foundation, which is one of the client organizations caught up in the Blackbaud data breach.

He says he received an email on July 29 from BC Cancer Foundation notifying him that his personal information had been accessed in a data breach by unauthorized third parties.

“Blackbaud’s extensive access, receipt, collection, use storage, transfer or transmission of Personal Information made it foreseeable to Blackbaud that its electronic databases are a prime target for criminal activity including attempts to hack and steal the Personal Information,” the Blackbaud data breach class action lawsuit states.

Blackbaud was also aware that it had an obligation to protect this personal information from unauthorized parties. However, Blackbaud allegedly failed to live up to the obligations imposed upon it by the provincial Personal Information Protection Act and the Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act.

Stefan says Blackbaud failed to make reasonable security arrangements or implement adequate safeguards to protect the information from loss, theft and unauthorized access to the personal information stored on its servers.

Further, Blackbaud failed to immediately notify individuals that their personal information had been accessed by cybercriminals, the data breach class action lawsuit argues.

Stefan filed the Blackbaud data breach class action lawsuit on behalf of himself and all other residents of Canada whose personal information was allegedly accessed by unauthorized parties during the data breach.

The Blackbaud data breach class action lawsuit Canada says Class Members have suffered loss and damages due to the Blackbaud data breach, including violation of privacy, psychological distress, and time and money spent attempting to prevent identity theft and obtain credit monitoring services. The data breach has also increased their risk of future identity and information theft, Stefan argues.

On behalf of the proposed Class, he is seeking general damages, statutory damages, interest, and other relief the court deems just.

Blackbaud Data Breach Latest in String of Canada Breaches

Over this summer, a growing number of Canadians have learned that their personal information has been compromised in data breaches. The popular story sharing website Wattpad was targeted by a data breach that reportedly occurred in June and potentially affected 271 million users. Birthdates and email addresses were included in the data allegedly stolen during the Wattpad data breach, but Wattpad assured users that their passwords were not compromised (the company says it reset users’ passwords as a precaution).

On Aug. 17, the Canada Revenue Agency confirmed during a news briefing that it had been targeted by a cyberattack, which affected GCKey, an online portal that allows Canadians to access services such as employment insurance, immigration applications and veterans’ benefits. The federal government and the CRA are now facing a data breach class action lawsuit accusing them of failing to properly safeguard users’ sensitive data.

What do you think about this Blackbaud data breach class action lawsuit? Have you been impacted by a data breach recently? Tell us your story in the comment section below! 

Stefan is represented by Anthony A. Vecchio of Slater Vecchio LLP and Mathew Good of Mathew P Good Law Corp.

The Blackbaud Data Breach Class Action Lawsuit is Stefan Wittman v. Blackbaud Inc., et al., Case No. S-207965, in the Supreme Court of British Columbia, Canada.

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