Important Announcement from NIB Trust Fund: Protecting Your Personal Information

Press Release

Future Generations Foundation (formerly NIB Trust Fund) is reaching out to all current and former funding applicants and recipients to inform them of a recent incident that may have affected the privacy of their personal information. We take this matter very seriously and want to assure our applicants and recipients that we are committed to safeguarding their data.

In late May 2023, NIB Trust Fund discovered that its servers were subjected to a ransomware attack, which led to the encryption of the data stored on these servers. Acting swiftly, we immediately took the affected servers offline, purged their contents, and commenced data restoration from our secure backup facilities. We are pleased to report that our servers were successfully recovered within a few days.

Following a thorough investigation involving our internal and external cybersecurity advisors, we have not been able to ascertain whether any data was copied or removed from the compromised servers. It is important to note that no ransom demand has been received by NIB Trust Fund. As of now, we have no evidence of any ongoing exposure of your information, and there have been no reported instances of misuse. However, to ensure complete transparency and as a proactive measure, we want to share information about the incident, our response, and steps you can take to protect your data.

The personal information potentially exposed on the affected servers includes data from your completed Application Form for the Education Program. This information may include:

• First and Last name
• Address and contact information
• Date of birth
• Social Insurance number
• Indian status card number

We reiterate that we have no confirmation that this information was copied or removed from our servers, but it could have been exposed and potentially used for fraudulent purposes, such as identity theft.

Our Actions and Enhancements:

As part of our commitment to data security and your privacy, we have taken the following actions:

• Erased and reconstructed the contents of the compromised servers.
• Enhanced monitoring of our systems to detect any unusual behavior.
• Updated our anti-malware and intrusion detection software.
• Conducted refresher training for our staff on cybersecurity awareness and email hygiene.
• Implemented multi-factor authentication for access to our systems.

Credit Protection Service:

As an additional precaution, NIB Trust Fund is offering a 12-month credit protection service, myTrueIdentity through TransUnion, at no cost to you. For any inquiries, please contact us at confidentiality@fgfoundation.ca.

Protecting Yourself:

To protect yourself from identity theft or fraud, we recommend the following:

• Use strong passwords for all online accounts.
• Stay vigilant against phishing attempts.
• Be cautious when sharing personal information via phone, online, or email.
• Regularly monitor your benefit and bank account activity.

References:

For more information about your privacy rights and protection of personal data, as well as potential risks of identity theft, please refer to the following references:

• Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada (OPC): www.priv.gc.ca, 1-800-282-1376
• Office of the Information and Privacy Commissioner for British Columbia (OIPC): www.oipc.bc.ca, 1-250-387-5629
• Office of the Information and Privacy Commissioner of Alberta: www.oipc.ab.ca, 1-888-878-4044
• Commission d’accès à l’information du Québec: www.cai.gouv.qc.ca, 1-888-528-7741
• Canadian Anti-Fraud Centre: www.antifraudcentre-centreantifraude.ca, 1-888-495-8501
• Service Canada: 1-800-206-7218 to report a stolen Social Insurance Number (SIN)

We sincerely apologize for any inconvenience this situation may have caused you. Please be assured that we take our responsibility to protect your personal information very seriously and are dedicated to continuously enhancing our information security program.

For any inquiries related to this matter, please contact us at confidentiality@fgfoundation.ca.

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