On 3rd August, we were contacted by Beacon, a key supplier to around 1,500 charities in the UK, advising that they had been impacted by a cybersecurity issue.
As one of Scotland’s best known and loved charities, we are always keen to be open and transparent to our supporters. We are publishing this notice as we are one of the charities that use the services of Beacon. This means that some of our supporters’ personal information may have been included in the affected data, this would typically be names and contact details.
We would like to reassure you that we do NOT store financial information within Beacon. This means that no payment card or banking information has been affected by this incident. Beacon has also found no evidence to suggest that the data impacted has been used by any unauthorised third party.
Right now, we do not have the full picture of what has happened, but we are in close contact with Beacon. If there is further information which those who might be affected should know about, we will be in touch.
As you would expect, we and other charities have notified relevant authorities, including ICO and OSCR.
We will continue to assess the situation and if anything changes, will issue updates and further communications in line with our regulatory responsibilities.
You do not need to take any specific action at this time. This communication contains all information currently available, however if you have any questions in relation to the incident, please contact us at information@scottishspca.org
We recommend remaining alert to:
- Suspicious emails, telephone calls, texts, social media messages or any other type of correspondence claiming to be from the Scottish SPCA. Be particularly vigilant of any communications asking to confirm personal information or to take urgent action
- Exercise caution before clicking on any links that appear not to be genuine or legitimate
- Never provide passwords, bank or account details over the phone
We would like to take this opportunity again to thank you for your continued support in helping Scotland’s animals.
