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Major cyber attack targeted donors to Atlanta colleges and non-profits

ATLANTA — We’ve learned a major cyber attack targeted donors to some major Atlanta schools, colleges and non-profits.

Channel 2 Investigative Reporter Justin Gray has been digging into this story for days and learned that the Georgia State University Foundation is reaching out half a million people in their database to warn them about this cyber attack.

School officials tell Gray an internal investigation determined that a small number of those donors, social security numbers have potentially been exposed.

We’re working to learn of the non-profits that were impacted in this attack, on Channel 2 Action News starting at 4 p.m.

The foundation emailed out a letter to donors warning of the attack on a company called Blackbaud, a third-party vender, for fundraising.

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Morehouse School of Medicine is also sending out a letter to donors this week warning this impacted them too.

Both schools say for the vast majority of donors their bank, credit card and personal information is safe.

In the ransomware attack, the company paid off the ransom and says they got proof that any personal information of donors was destroyed.

Still, GSU says it did its own investigation to be sure and they are informing all donors of the ransomware attack. It will reach out specifically to those donors whose social security numbers may have been in the data that the hacker stole, but then destroyed.