EDITOR'S NOTE: Ben Underwood, associate vice chancellor for advancement operations at UNC Asheville, issued the following statement about a date incident on Aug. 6:

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"At UNC Asheville, we take the protection of your personal information very seriously. As part of our commitment to transparency and open communication, we are writing to let you know about a recent data security incident at Blackbaud, a third-party software company that houses some of UNC Asheville’s data.

"On July 16, 2020, Blackbaud notified UNC Asheville of a ransomware attack that occurred in May. This incident was not isolated to UNC Asheville. Blackbaud is one of the world's largest providers of constituent relationship management systems for the higher education and not-for-profit sectors, and this incident affected organizations across the United States and internationally—including others in the UNC System. 

"According to Blackbaud, they involved forensics experts and law enforcement, and were able to stop the attack and prevent the cybercriminal from blocking or accessing encrypted files that contain sensitive data. UNC Asheville does not store credit card, bank account information, passwords, or social security numbers with Blackbaud, so this data was not accessed by the cybercriminal.

"Information held by UNC Asheville in our Blackbaud database that may have been accessed by the intruders includes only publicly available data: names, physical addresses, birthdays, and philanthropic giving to other institutions. According to Blackbaud’s communication, they have reason to believe that the intruders no longer have access to the data and did not pass it on to anyone else.   

"We will continue to seek additional information from Blackbaud and offer relevant updates as warranted. 

"Please contact Ben Underwood, Associate Vice Chancellor for Advancement Operations, at  This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it " ... or call (828) 251-6016 if you have any questions."