The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, often referred to as the LDS Church or the Mormon Church, suffered a data breach that affected sensitive personal information of Church members, employees, contractors and friends. Payment and other banking data were not affected.
In an announcement (opens in a new tab) The church said the data breach occurred in late March 2022, but as the law enforcement investigation continues, it has been asked to keep the incident confidential.
The church has not named the person behind the attack or said if there is one malware (opens in a new tab) was used, but it said US federal law enforcement suspects the intrusion was “part of a pattern of state-sponsored cyberattacks targeting organizations and governments around the world” that are not intended to harm individuals.
Bank data safe
When hackers managed to break into the Church’s database, they stole “basic” data, including usernames, membership numbers, full names, gender information, email addresses, dates of birth, postal addresses, phone numbers and preferred language.
Even though donation history or banking information was not affected, it is still enough sensitive data for identity theft, phishing and other types of fraud.
So far, the Church has seen no evidence that the data is being used in the wild, but has urged everyone to be extra vigilant when receiving any emails, texts or phone calls, and to be on the lookout for potential scams.
He also added that those affected by the incident have already been contacted and those who have further queries can contact the given phone numbers. here (opens in a new tab).
To ensure the safety of its members, employees, contractors and friends, the Church hired outside forensics experts, notified US federal law enforcement and “other cybersecurity professionals,” who investigated the incident and “further enhanced” the security of the Church’s systems. It does not specify what this improvement means, nor does it provide data protection services to affected individuals.
https://www.techradar.com/news/the-mormon-church-has-been-hit-by-a-major-cyberattack/
