November 11, 2015

Dear Parishioners,

I need to make you aware that, on Friday, November 6, we suffered a breach in our computer network security, and hackers were able to access certain portions of our parish’s network. As soon as I became aware of the hacking incident, the company that provides information technology services to our parish quickly began investigating the extent of the hackers’ access and worked to safeguard against any harm that could result from this unfortunate incident. Thankfully, no parishioner bank account numbers, credit card numbers, or Social Security numbers were compromised. Also, no parish school information was compromised.

The hackers, however, did have access to parish census data (which includes parishioner and family member names, ages, addresses, emails, and phone numbers) as well as certain parish financial records, such as information regarding amounts donated by individuals to the parish and the parish general ledger information. Again, I want to assure you that no parishioner bank account numbers, credit card numbers, or Social Security numbers were compromised.

The hackers gained access as a result of a phishing pop-up message that appeared on a parish computer. As a result, I need to alert you to the possibility that parishioner emails addresses, home addresses, and phone numbers to which the hackers had access could be used to send you similar phishing emails, pop-up messages, phone calls, or letters. Phishing communications generally attempt to create the impression of an urgent need for the recipient to provide credit card information or other personal information, such as his or her Social Security number. These emails often appear to be from legitimate companies or government agencies, and could even appear to be from St. Francis Xavier Parish.

Please note that no legitimate business or government agency, and certainly not our parish, requests this type of information via email or over the telephone. If you receive an email or phone call like this, DO NOT respond to it and DO NOT click on any links in the email. Instead, you should hang up the phone or permanently delete the email from your computer.  If you have any questions, please call the parish office at 330-725-4968.

Please know that we are doing everything possible to ensure this type of breach will never happen again. Your safety is of utmost importance to me. I am truly sorry this incident occurred and sincerely regret any inconvenience it may cause you.

If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact me.

Sincerely,

Rev. Anthony F. Sejba
Pastor
St. Francis Xavier Parish
Medina, OH

Phone: 330-725-4968
Email: tsejba@sfxmedina.org