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The voice of Scotland’s vibrant voluntary sector

Published by Scottish Council for Voluntary Organisations

TFN is published by the Scottish Council for Voluntary Organisations, Mansfield Traquair Centre, 15 Mansfield Place, Edinburgh, EH3 6BB. The Scottish Council for Voluntary Organisations (SCVO) is a Scottish Charitable Incorporated Organisation. Registration number SC003558.

Hackers access thousands of charity records in major security breach

This news post is about 8 years old
 

More than 15,000 people registered on the National Childbirth Trust website have had their email addresses compromised

A national charity set up to support parents has had its website hacked exposing the details of more than 15,000 people who registered with it online.

The National Childbirth Trust (NCT) says 15,085 people’s email addresses, user names and passwords have been compromised.

The charity discovered the security breach on Wednesday and contacted those affected.

A spokesperson for NCT told TFN that no financial or other personal details had been compromised.

NCT, aims to support parents across the UK by providing them with impartial information and introducing them to networks of local parents to gain practical and emotional support. It is common for new parents to join in a bid to develop relationships with other parents in their area. The charity has since reviewed its security procedures.

We stress that no financial or personal details have been compromised

The police and Information Commissioner have been notified of the incident but it is not clear why the charity was targeted.

The spokesperson for the charity said: “NCT has suffered a data breach which, regrettably, has caused some users of our website to have their website registration details compromised.

“These details are limited to their email address and the username and an encrypted version of the password that they created to register on the site. We stress that no financial or personal details are held as part of this data so no financial or personal details have been compromised.

“The breach occurred and was discovered on Wednesday, upon which we contacted everyone affected telling them about the breach and advising that they change their username and passwords. We have also reported the matter to the police and Information Commissioner.”

Although based in London, NCT has 21 branches in Scotland and runs various events north of the border from breastfeeding and first aid classes to social clubs for new and expectant parents.