Mormon Church Data Breach Exposed Members’ Personal Information

    James Martin/CNET
    

    The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints was the target of a cyberattack earlier this year that exposed the personal information of some members and associates, the church said Thursday.
    The security breach, which was detected on March 23, exposed information such as the full name, gender, email address(es), birthdate, mailing address and phone numbers of church members, employees, contractors and friends, the church said in a press release. Information about the breach was kept confidential at the request of law enforcement authorities until Wednesday, the church said.
    “US federal law enforcement authorities suspect that this intrusion was part of a pattern of state-sponsored cyberattacks aimed at organizations and governments around the world that are not intended to cause harm to individuals,” the Salt Lake City-based church said.
    The church, known widely as the Mormon church, said that neither donation histories nor any banking information associated with online donations was exposed in the breach.
    “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 said it’s begun notifying affected individuals by email, but it wasn’t immediately clear how many people were affected. The church didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.