ST. GEORGE — The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints announced Thursday that it was the target of a cyber attack earlier this year that resulted in hacker access to the personal information of church members and others.
The cyber attack occurred in March 2022 when “unauthorized activity in certain computer systems” was detected that impacted the personal data of church members, employees, contractors and others. However, the breached data did not include online donation history or bank information, according to the church statement.
“Since that time, we have been working with U.S. federal law enforcement authorities and third-party cybersecurity experts to establish the origin, nature and scope of this incident and to mitigate possible impacts,” the church stated.
Though the breach occurred in March, law enforcement agencies investigating the situation asked the church not to share information about the incident until mid-October.
Specific information that may have been subject to the breach includes information provided on online accounts created by church members and employees. This may include usernames, membership record numbers, full names, gender, email addresses, birth dates, physical mailing addresses, phone numbers and preferred language.
“Law enforcement authorities believe the risk that the information will be used to harm individuals is low and our monitoring efforts have not identified any attempts of harmful use,” the church said.
The church statement also reiterated that banking and donation information was not subject to the hack and that it has started to contact people impacted by the breach
“We have no indication that any of your personal data has been misused or published,” the church further stated.
“We recommend that you remain vigilant about the security of your personal data by monitoring your personal accounts, frequently changing passwords, selecting strong and different passwords for every account, and taking action on any suspicious activity. You should promptly report to law enforcement authorities any fraudulent activity, scam, or identity theft.”
Additional information can be found on the LDS church’s newsroom website.
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