Catholic charity shuts down website after raid by hackers

BY CHRISTINA FARRELL
THE DIRECTOR of Aid to the Church in Need (ACN) has spoken out against the “callous attack” on the charity after internet criminals hacked into its website and attempted to defraud benefactors.
The hackers managed to bypass the security systems which were in place and accessed the personal details of people who had donated money or purchased items from the website. Only people who made credit card transactions on the site were affected.
In a statement, Neville Kyrke-Smith, the charity’s UK director, said he was shocked by the crime and appealed for prayers and understanding.
He urged Catholics to continue their support of the ACN but admitted that the attack was demoralising to all people of goodwill at this time of year.
“We are really worried about the charity identity theft which has taken place and the distress caused to faithful benefactors,” he explained.
“It really is a hi-tech hit on a Christian charity before Christmas and will have charity sector implications. The encryption and security codes were broken with the use of illegal software.
“We had a telephone call from a mother of six who had £277 taken from her card and she was in tears, as she feared she would not have enough money for Christmas presents for her children.
“One other benefactor had £863.95 at an as-yetunidentified department store taken out on November 30.” Mr Kyrke-Smith said the card companies involved had promised to reimburse the individuals concerned.
The nature of the crime may give the police important leads to the perpetra tors. ACN’s website was professionally designed and implemented using encryption and secure server access. “Only the most skilled of internet criminals could have got in, which at least helps narrow the search for those responsible,” Mr Kyrke-Smith said.
The break-in comes at a particularly sensitive time as the website shutdown will hit essential fund-raising for Pakistan, Iraq, Sudan and other countries around the world where Christians are persecuted.
According to details released by the charity this week, the break-in happened on November 27. The site was immediately closed and the Charity Commissioners and the police were alerted.
The website will remain off-line until ACN is satisfied that the site is secure and all leads and police inquiries have been followed up.
John Pontifex, spokesman for ACN, said the website was essentially the scene of the crime and had to be protected while the investigation was ongoing.
At first the charity thought there had been a system malfunction as data appeared to be missing. But within days they realised that the website security had been breached and the authorities were informed.
Benefactors telephoned and said they had been contacted by people purporting to be from charity.
In fact, Aid to the Church in Need never cold-calls its supporters. All people who could potentially be targeted by the hackers have been contacted by e-mail and urged to speak with their bank or credit card company to ensure that their accounts have not been touched.
Mr Pontifex declined to comment on whether or not the charity had been deliberately targeted because of its connection with the Catholic Church and priests and religious overseas.
“We don’t have enough information at the moment to connect what we have seen with any particular individual or organisation,” he said.
“We have our own ideas as to who it might be, but at this stage that would be pure speculation and I wouldn’t want to jeopardise the police inquiry.” He said the hackers’ efforts had diverted valuable time and resources away from fundraising at a very difficult time for the Church.
“We were hoping to make a major donation to Pakistan this month and we still hope to make that payment,” he added.
“People need to be assured that the charity can still take telephone and postal payments and it is only the website that has been affected.” Internet fraud affects thousands of people in Britain as hackers adopt ever more sophisticated means of getting through security systems.
Scotland Yard now operates a specialised Computer Unit to deal with the rise in website and e-mail crime.