On
The Urban Institute's National Center for Charitable Statistics (NCCS) recently discovered that an unauthorized party or parties have accessed the
We regret to inform you that the username, first and last name, email address,
Elizabeth Boris, director of the Urban Institute's Center on Nonprofits and Philanthropy, said that while hackers were able to access usernames, passwords,
Currently we believe no information from the filings themselves was compromised. These forms do not contain Social Security numbers, credit card data, or individual tax filer information, so such sensitive information was not available to the hackers. Copies of the
The Urban Institute said that hackers had accessed accounts in both the e-Postcard and the
The Urban Institute does not know who was behind the attack. Boris said that the IRS had been alerted about the security breach, and she urged customers to change the passwords associated with their accounts:
To enhance security, all users accessing the Form 990 Online and e-Postcard systems are required to change their passwords upon logging in, or were when they logged in most recently. We encourage you to be alert for unusual or suspicious emails and use caution when clicking on links or opening attachments from unknown senders.
We sincerely apologize for this disruption and any inconvenience this incident may cause you. We have a strong commitment to privacy and data security, and we are continuing to do everything we can to protect against future attacks. Our investigation is ongoing, and we will let you know if it reveals new information that is relevant to your account.
Last updated: 24 February 2015
