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Kent County church targeted in data breach

Posted at 4:15 PM, May 21, 2018
and last updated 2018-05-21 16:58:05-04

KENT COUNTY, Mich. -- When a data breach happens, personal information becomes a concern.

A department store chain or a large company may come to mind when you think of a place that has fallen victim, but in a recent case, it happened to a place of worship.

According to Ada Bible Church senior pastor Jeff Manion, an unauthorized person gained access to their computer network servers on April 21.

“We experienced a cyber-attack," Manion explained during services on April 28-29. "This cyber-attack encrypted all of our files and all of our servers and networks, making us unable to even access our computer network for a period of time.”

Manion said they were relieved after the investigation showed no member's personal information has been stolen.

“None of your financial information has been accessed, with those of you that give online or text-giving or credit card," said Manion. "The reason we know that it wasn’t accessed is because we do not store that on site. We have, and I wrote this down, a secure third-party provider, which means we do not store personal financial information here.”

Manion said while there's been issues with files being encrypted, they're grateful it hasn't touched the security that they have for their families.

“We’ve brought some phenomenal people from the outside that are helping us explore and diagnose and investigate two things: how did this happen and what can we do to enhance our controls, because we’re not interested in a repeat in this any time in the near or distance future," said Manion.