Email Content

Dear Oberlin Community:

As part of our commitment to responsible and ethical data management, Oberlin writes to provide information related to a potential data privacy event relating to an Oberlin vendor.  

On July 16, 2020, our third-party vendor, Blackbaud, informed us that in May 2020 Blackbaud suffered a cyber incident which resulted in potential unauthorized access to certain information maintained by Blackbaud. Blackbaud is a cloud computing provider used by many colleges and non-profits for fundraising and engagement related activities .  Oberlin, through its Advancement Office, uses Blackbaud primarily for these services. It is important to note that Blackbaud has advised us that the incident does not involve any credit card information, bank account information, or social security numbers.

Upon learning of this event, Oberlin immediately commenced an investigation to determine what, if any, sensitive Oberlin data was potentially impacted.  Our investigation is active and ongoing at this time, and we continue to take steps to better understand what happened and how it may have affected our data, if at all.  

Please know that we take this incident and the security of our information seriously, and we are diligently working to determine the full nature and scope of this incident, as well as confirm whether and what Oberlin information may be involved. While it’s possible that Oberlin’s data was not involved, based on information that has been provided to us by Blackbaud, we do not believe that sensitive personal information will be misused or disseminated.  Nevertheless, we recommend you remain vigilant and promptly report any suspicious activity or suspected identity theft to us and to the proper law enforcement authorities.  

We continue to investigate this incident and will provide additional relevant updates as necessary here. We understand that you may have questions about the Blackbaud incident that are not addressed in this email. You can find out more about the incident by visiting blackbaud.com/securityincident. If you have additional questions, please contact Kassy Wyman at kassy.wyman@oberlin.edu.

Sincerely,
 

Michael Grzesiak 
Vice President, Advancement