How Data Breaches Are Affecting People Who Donate to Charity

Data breaches have occurred for many years, but even more increasingly over the past couple of years and, in particular, since the COVID-19 pandemic. In this article, we’re going to talk about how data breaches are affecting people who donate to charities.

The problem with being involved with a data breach is the impact it can have on your life and, in particular, on your finances, which can be a huge concern.

Despite their giving nature, charities are by no means exempt from these breaches of data. If you have been involved with a charity data breach, you can claim compensation for a breach of personal data where you have faced a financial loss as a result of the breach.

No business or organisation, whatever their size, is immune to data breaches, but those who donate to charities may be even more prone to becoming a victim. Keep reading to learn more about data breaches and how they are affecting people who donate to charity…

What is a data breach?

To simply put it, a data breach is an incident where personal information is stolen or shared without the knowledge or consent of the data’s owner. This may be through malicious interference, or human error. Either way, the data can be used maliciously, with the risk of harming the data’s owner financially.

How are people who donate to charities being affected by data breaches?

Donating money to a charity is a lovely and kind thing to do, especially when you know that the money is going to a good cause. But, with donating your money comes the sharing of your personal data. Unfortunately, this can sometimes leave you vulnerable to cybercrimes and having your details stolen by cybercriminals.

The question is, what can happen if this occurs? Well, if data is stolen in a data breach, a number of things can happen, including:

Financial Loss

The one thing that can happen when you are involved in a data breach is having your personal financial details stolen from you. As a result of this, it can leave you in a financial hiccup where you may lose a lot of money.

Loss of Sensitive Data

Having your sensitive data stolen can be a recipe for disaster, with the potential for your data to be used for malicious intent, such as scam emails, texts, calls, or to be sold on the dark web.

Concern about making future donations

Not only does this affect the charity because they will be losing valuable donations, but it also affects the donors themselves who want to donate to charities and support them. They may decide not to, as they are concerned about having their sensitive details stolen.

Why are Charities More Prone to Data Breaches?

Charities Have a Lack of Security

Many larger businesses are able to afford security systems, but still become victims of data breaches. Unfortunately for charities, this puts them more at risk because, most of the time, they do not have the funds needed to put sufficient security in place to protect not only their own business, but the personal details they hold of their donors.

For donors to avoid having their details stolen when they are donating funds to a charity, it’s important for them to do their due diligence. This includes double-checking that they have security systems and that they are kept up to date.

Charities Hold Fund Making Them More Liable

Cyber attackers are aware that charities are going to hold funds, which could make them more liable to being attacked. What this means for the charity’s donors is that their funds, which were intended for the charity, could be stolen.

Online Donations

During an annual report done in 2021 based on 2020 figures, 26% of charities reported that they had experienced a cyber breach. The increase that happened during the COVID-19 pandemic was due to the increased use of online donation services.

Human Error

One of the most significant reasons that data breaches happen is due to human error. This usually happens when a staff member opens a phishing email, where they have a weak password, where they send documents to the wrong people, by not using blind carbon copy (BCC) when sending emails, and many more reasons.

A Data Breach Can Be Seriously Damaging to You

What we can conclude from this article is that a data breach can have a considerable negative effect on a charity donor.

So, if you are choosing to donate to a charity, it’s important that you to make the appropriate checks to ensure your personal details are being kept as safe as possible so you don’t become a victim of a data breach.

How do you keep your personal details safe? Let us know in the comment box below.