The Governor’s STEM Advisory Council has confirmed it was a customer of a financial services contractor targeted in a massive international ransomware attack earlier this year, the Iowa Capital Dispatch reported. The council is one of three confirmed Iowa customers of Blackbaud, a cloud-based provider of fundraising and finance services for education and nonprofit entities; the Iowa State Foundation and Living History Farms were also notified earlier this summer of the ransomware attack, which took place between Feb. 7 and May 20. The Governor’s STEM Advisory Council was notified in a letter by Council Director Jeff Weld and Associate Director Carrie Rankin, the Iowa Capital Dispatch reported: “Based on the nature of the incident, their research, and third party (including law enforcement) investigation, we have no reason to believe that any data went beyond the cybercriminal, was or will be misused, or will be disseminated or otherwise made available publicly,” the administrators wrote in a letter dated Aug. 13.
