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NUI Galway was affected by the hack. Shutterstock/STLJB

Hacker was paid ransom after NUI Galway alumni data targeted in worldwide cyber attack

The university said “names, telephone numbers and email addresses” in its alumni database may have been targeted in the hack.

NUI GALWAY HAS confirmed it was one of more than 20 institutions across the world affected by hackers attacking a cloud provider. 

The university said it understood that “names, telephone numbers and email addresses” in its alumni database may have been targeted in the recent Blackbaud hack

The software giant – which provides relationship management systems for third level institutions – was held ransom by hackers in May and paid an undisclosed sum to cyber criminals. 

The US-based firm has declined to provide lists of those affected but institutions in the UK, US and Canada have been affected with the University of South Wales the most recent to confirm it had been hacked. 

In an email to alumni NUI Galway said it had been “reassured” that alumni data will not be misused and that cyber criminals did not access credit card or bank data. Student data was also not affected, it said. 

After discovering the attack, Blackbaud’s Cyber Security team – together with independent forensics experts and law enforcement – “successfully prevented the cybercriminal from blocking their system access and fully encrypting files,” the university said. 

This “ultimately expelled them from the system,” it added. 

“However, before being locked out, the cybercriminal removed a copy of a backup file containing personal information including a subset of NUI Galway data,” the university said. 

The files removed may have contained names, contact information including telephone numbers, email addresses and mailing addresses as well as a history of alumni and supporters relationships, according to the university.

Blackbaud paid the cyber criminal’s demand with confirmation that the copy they removed had been destroyed, NUIG said. 

“Based on the nature of the incident, their research, and a third party – including law enforcement – investigation, Blackbaud do not believe that any data went beyond the cybercriminal, was or will be misused, or will be disseminated or otherwise made available publicly and are continuing to monitor this,” it continued.

“NUI Galway was not party to the decision to make this payment and only became aware of this payment after it had occurred,” it added. 

The university has launched its own investigation into the hack and said it is “reviewing” its relationship with the third-party service provider. It said it has also informed the Data Protection Commission of the incident. 

Blackbaud, a company based in South Carolina, has been criticised for not disclosing the hacking of its systems externally in May until July and for having paid hackers an undisclosed ransom.

“The majority of our customers were not part of this incident,” the company has said.

According to a statement on its website: “In May of 2020, we discovered and stopped a ransomware attack. Prior to our locking the cyber-criminal out, the cyber-criminal removed a copy of a subset of data from our self-hosted environment.”

The statement says Blackbaud paid the ransom demand. 

Blackbaud added that it had been given “confirmation that the copy [of data] they removed had been destroyed”.  

TheJournal.ie has contacted NUI Galway for comment.

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    Mute Nyal Maku
    Favourite Nyal Maku
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    Nov 15th 2015, 10:40 AM

    This woman is a design icon and a national treasure, she produced a vast body of work across many design disciplines. The exhibition dedicated to her in the museum in Collins barracks is really worth viewing (it’s free too!).

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    Mute Mick Torrans
    Favourite Mick Torrans
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    Nov 15th 2015, 10:46 AM

    Acknowledgement of her contribution to modernism, and design in general, is long over due but at least it has begun after decades. Fair play to Dr.Goff for all her work. My own LEGO tribute to E1027 sits proudly above the fireplace! https://instagram.com/p/60lMUOTHxg/

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    Mute Coles
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    Nov 15th 2015, 9:29 PM

    What? You’ve obviously just heard about her. Her work has been celebrated for generations.

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    Mute Inanimate Carbon Rod
    Favourite Inanimate Carbon Rod
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    Nov 15th 2015, 12:03 PM

    Love Eileen Grey, she was 50 years ahead of her time. Some day I wanna buy one of her Bibbendum chairs, they look really comfy

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    Mute Jonathan Eastwood
    Favourite Jonathan Eastwood
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    Nov 15th 2015, 1:56 PM

    I seem to remember reading an article about one of her chairs selling for millions at auction. So obviously her work is still very relevant and beautiful to many people.

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    Mute Pete Gibson
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    Nov 15th 2015, 11:08 AM

    Dated arts-rubbish from a bye-gone age.
    There is a reason the arts cult of modernism is forgotten.
    It was boring rubbish.
    That tiger skin on the floor was supposed to be Chic.
    Nobody would design such horrible houses or interiors like that nowadays.
    (Dublin developers and designers just might do though.)

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    Mute Alesis
    Favourite Alesis
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    Nov 15th 2015, 2:24 PM

    Art deco stuff is still sought after. That chair above looks totally useless, but that’s often the point. betcha someone would pay a pretty penny for it.

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    Mute Anton Dec
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    Nov 15th 2015, 9:52 PM

    You’re a silly little person aren’t you?

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    Mute Michael Sands
    Favourite Michael Sands
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    Nov 15th 2015, 2:30 PM

    Because… She was a woman?

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    Mute Anthony Halpin
    Favourite Anthony Halpin
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    Nov 16th 2015, 2:26 PM

    Ireland has a long tradition of ignoring it’s own talent, an inferiority complex borne of ignorance which continues to this day. Both AIB and Aer Lingus went outside of Ireland for the design of their logos. If you want money from the Arts Council, a non – Irish sounding name is a huge advantage (along with no talent, most of the time) This in a country which has a rich artistic heritage going back thousands of years (Book of Kells / Durrow etc.)

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