The police in Northern Ireland are investigating after hackers stole data on more than a hundred charities and their beneficiaries.
Evide, a data management firm based in Derry, was targeted by cyber criminals last month, according to BBC reports.
The firm did not respond to requests for comment by Third Sector but told the BBC that it worked with about 140 charities and had notified all its clients of the breach.
The PSNI said: “The matter was referred to specialist detectives in the PSNI’s Cyber Crime Investigation Team.
“Enquiries, in conjunction with our national partners, are ongoing. As such, it would be inappropriate to comment further at this time.”
One In Four, a Belfast charity that works with adults who survived child sexual abuse, said the personal details of some beneficiaries had been compromised by the hack.
The charity said in a statement: “On 5 April we were notified by one of our IT service providers that they had been subject to a cyber security incident.”
One in Four continued: “We now know that the personal information of people who have used our service has been accessed.
“We have begun contacting individual clients directly to advise them of the incident and to address any concerns they may have.
“We have taken this approach to allow us to provide proper support to clients who may find this incident distressing. Our priority at all times is the welfare and wellbeing of our clients.”
The charity acknowledged that it may not be able to contact everyone who could have been affected.
The most recent data shows that about one in three charities were directly targeted by cyber criminals in 2021. Two large charities, Shelter and the YoungMinds Trust, said their data was compromised when the cloud-computing firm Blackbaud was targeted by hackers in 2020.