The Royal National Lifeboat Institution (RNLI) has informed its supporters that their personal information may have been compromised in a cyber-attack. The charity warned members in a letter accompanying its autumn Lifeboat magazine that their “name, contact details and records of interactions with the RNLI” could have been breached.
The breach occurred at Beacon CRM, a company the RNLI uses for customer relationship management. Beacon CRM advised the RNLI to “assume that data held within its systems was taken” in the cyber-attack, which affected around 1,500 charities in late July.
While there is no evidence to date of misuse, sharing, or publication of members’ personal data, the news comes amid increased targeting of the RNLI by far-right agitators. These groups object to the charity's role in rescuing migrants attempting to reach the UK.
A report by Beacon CRM indicated no evidence of a targeted attack on Beacon or any specific customer. The cyber-attacker reportedly stated they would delete any exfiltrated data and would not retain, sell, or share it.