14 DAY TRIAL // Convio, a web software company based on eCRM solutions and working with several non-profit organizations, confirmed that a hacker managed to obtain thousands of emails and numerous passwords, after he broke into GetActive. This technology provided by the company is used by the non-profit organizations to send e-mails, which means it contained lots of contact details along with passwords and other type of information. Among the registered organizations that collaborate with Convio, I can mention the most popular one: The American Red Cross.
Red Cross spokeswoman, Stephanie Millian, told Reuters that approximately 278,000 e-mail addresses were stolen, after the hack attack over the Convio software targeted a hard drive containing the affected technology. "She said the Red Cross notified affected users Nov. 14," Reuters noted.
Gene Austin, CEO of Convio, published a notification on the official website of the company to inform the consumers about the attack and to give advices concerning a potential exploit of the information stolen by the hackers.
"There was no loss of credit card numbers in the attack," the official noted. Obviously, you're advised to change your password in case you use the same secret word for other online technologies and avoid publishing your private information on websites promoted by e-mail, because they might be some dangerous phishing attacks.
"We also recommend that you be on the alert regarding e-mail that appears to be from a brand-name organization and urges you to visit a web site to provide personal or financial information, because your account may have been compromised or deactivated," Gene Austin wrote. "Neither Convio, GetActive nor any of our nonprofit clients will ever ask you to provide such personal information via an email. You should not visit the promoted web site and should delete any such e-mail you receive one."