RNLI warns of possible supporter data leak in Britain — The Guardian
The British charity Royal National Lifeboat Institution (RNLI) has warned supporters that their personal data may have fallen into the hands of third parties as a result of a cyberattack on Beacon CRM. According to The Guardian, names, contact details and records of supporters’ interactions with the RNLI may potentially have been compromised.
Cyberattack on CRM provider
RNLI sent a warning to members of the organisation along with the autumn issue of Lifeboat magazine. According to The Telegraph, Beacon CRM advised organisations affected by the incident to assume that data from the company’s systems had been stolen. The cyberattack at the end of July affected around 1,500 charities.
RNLI said it currently has no evidence that its supporters’ data has been published, disseminated online or otherwise misused. Beacon CRM also reported that there was no evidence that the attack had specifically targeted the company or a particular client. According to the company, the attacker contacted it and said they would delete the stolen data and would not retain, sell or share it.
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Pressure on rescuers
The report of a possible leak emerged amid pressure on RNLI from far-right activists who oppose rescuing people attempting to reach the United Kingdom in small boats. An RNLI lifeboat station in Portsmouth was forced to temporarily suspend operations.
On 6 September, activists attempted to block the road to a landing site in the Eastney area of Portsmouth. There, two RNLI crews helped bring an inflatable boat carrying 120 asylum seekers ashore; police officers were injured during the events. Afterwards, crew members were called traitors, and protests took place near RNLI headquarters in Poole. The organisation noted that last year, callouts involving small boats in the English Channel accounted for 109 of its 9,058 callouts, or 1.2%.
