CAMH, Western among Canadian orgs. affected by ransomware attack on Blackbaud - CP24 Toronto's Breaking News | Canada News Media
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CAMH, Western among Canadian orgs. affected by ransomware attack on Blackbaud – CP24 Toronto's Breaking News

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David Paddon, The Canadian Press


Published Thursday, July 30, 2020 4:20PM EDT


Last Updated Thursday, July 30, 2020 10:37PM EDT

TORONTO – At least two prominent fundraising organizations in Canada have notified their donors that their personal information may have been compromised in a May ransomware attack.

Ransomware is a type of software designed to lock an information servers or data and prevent it from being used by the host organization unless a payment is paid, often in the form of a cryptocurrency such as bitcoin. In this case, an unspecified amount was paid by a U.S. company that says it successfully prevented the information from being transmitted beyond the hacker.

The Centre for Addiction and Mental Health in Toronto and Western University in London, Ont., advised donors recently by email that a ransom was paid by Blackbaud Inc., one of their service providers.

The South Carolina-based company specializes in providing cloud services to manage fundraising efforts by charitable foundations around the world. It posted a notification of the ransomware attack on its website earlier this month, several weeks after it became aware of the attack.

Blackbaud did not respond to requests for further information about how many of its Canadian clients were affected but its website lists several Canadian foundations affiliated with hospitals, charities and not-for-profit organizations.

But CAMH and Western noted in their communications that the attacker would have had access to individual names, dates of birth, contact information, donations or engagement with the fundraising organizations – information that can be bought and sold by criminal organizations around the world.

CAMH Foundation and Western assured their donors they’d be notified “immediately” if more of their information had been compromised.

“In addition to notifying all potentially affected parties directly, we are working closely with Blackbaud to understand why this happened, what data was impacted, and what actions they are taking to increase their security,” the CAMH letter said.

“While this did not affect the Foundation’s IT systems and infrastructures, we wish to assure you that we have robust protocols in place, and are continually keeping up with industry standards, including testing the security of our internal systems to be assured that the information we host is secure.”

CAMH said in a statement Thursday it would issue further updates if the situation evolves.

A request for more information from Western was referred to its media department but there was no immediate response Thursday.

A notice it sent last week said the university had notified privacy officials and recommended that donors contact local law enforcement if they see any suspected identity theft or other suspicious use of their personal information.

Western also said it had suspended the use of Blackbaud “for the time being” while it investigated the incident.

Blackbaud officials said Thursday during a regular quarterly conference call with analysts that its own security personnel and outside experts include law enforcement have found no has no reason to believe any data went beyond the cybercriminal or will made available publicly.

“I’d like to just like to apologize on behalf of Blackbaud for the incident,” said CEO and president Mike Gianoni. “Like a lot of companies, we get millions of intrusion attempts a month. And unfortunately, one got in to a subset of our customers and a subset of our backup environment.”

Blackbaud is a well-established company that generated US$900.4 million in annual revenue last year. In the second quarter ended June 30, which included the ransomware attack, it reported US$11.8 million of net income under U.S. generally accepted accounting principles, up from US$7.14 million a year ago with US$232 million of revenue.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published July 30, 2020.

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Restaurant Brands reports US$357M Q3 net income, down from US$364M a year ago

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TORONTO – Restaurant Brands International Inc. reported net income of US$357 million for its third quarter, down from US$364 million in the same quarter last year.

The company, which keeps its books in U.S. dollars, says its profit amounted to 79 cents US per diluted share for the quarter ended Sept. 30 compared with 79 cents US per diluted share a year earlier.

Revenue for the parent company of Tim Hortons, Burger King, Popeyes and Firehouse Subs, totalled US$2.29 billion, up from US$1.84 billion in the same quarter last year.

Consolidated comparable sales were up 0.3 per cent.

On an adjusted basis, Restaurant Brands says it earned 93 cents US per diluted share in its latest quarter, up from an adjusted profit of 90 cents US per diluted share a year earlier.

The average analyst estimate had been for a profit of 95 cents US per share, according to LSEG Data & Analytics.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 5, 2024.

Companies in this story: (TSX:QSR)

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Electric and gas utility Fortis reports $420M Q3 profit, up from $394M a year ago

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ST. JOHN’S, N.L. – Fortis Inc. reported a third-quarter profit of $420 million, up from $394 million in the same quarter last year.

The electric and gas utility says the profit amounted to 85 cents per share for the quarter ended Sept. 30, up from 81 cents per share a year earlier.

Fortis says the increase was driven by rate base growth across its utilities, and strong earnings in Arizona largely reflecting new customer rates at Tucson Electric Power.

Revenue in the quarter totalled $2.77 billion, up from $2.72 billion in the same quarter last year.

On an adjusted basis, Fortis says it earned 85 cents per share in its latest quarter, up from an adjusted profit of 84 cents per share in the third quarter of 2023.

The average analyst estimate had been for a profit of 82 cents per share, according to LSEG Data & Analytics.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 5, 2024.

Companies in this story: (TSX:FTS)

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Thomson Reuters reports Q3 profit down from year ago as revenue rises

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TORONTO – Thomson Reuters reported its third-quarter profit fell compared with a year ago as its revenue rose eight per cent.

The company, which keeps its books in U.S. dollars, says it earned US$301 million or 67 cents US per diluted share for the quarter ended Sept. 30. The result compared with a profit of US$367 million or 80 cents US per diluted share in the same quarter a year earlier.

Revenue for the quarter totalled US$1.72 billion, up from US$1.59 billion a year earlier.

In its outlook, Thomson Reuters says it now expects organic revenue growth of 7.0 per cent for its full year, up from earlier expectations for growth of 6.5 per cent.

On an adjusted basis, Thomson Reuters says it earned 80 cents US per share in its latest quarter, down from an adjusted profit of 82 cents US per share in the same quarter last year.

The average analyst estimate had been for a profit of 76 cents US per share, according to LSEG Data & Analytics.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 5, 2024.

Companies in this story: (TSX:TRI)

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