St Margaret’s Hospice Care has been informed that Beacon, the database provider we use to manage information about our supporters, donors, and others who have chosen to hear from us, has experienced a cyber security incident.
The database helps us maintain contact details, communication preferences and records of interactions up to date, so we can stay in touch with people who support and engage with our work.
Beacon has advised that its investigation is ongoing, but that organisations using its system, including St Margaret’s, should assume that information held in the database has been potentially accessed.
We understand this news will be concerning for our supporters, and the wider community. Protecting the personal information entrusted to us is a responsibility we take extremely seriously.
Since being notified, we have been liaising with Beacon, alongside working closely with our Governance and IT teams, to understand the potential impact on St Margaret’s Hospice Care. We are also engaging with the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) and other relevant regulators as part of our response.
As a precaution, we recommend remaining cautious of unexpected emails, telephone calls or text messages requesting personal or financial information. If you receive a communication that doesn’t feel right, take time to verify it before responding. St Margaret’s Hospice Care will never ask you to provide passwords or sensitive financial information by email.
We are committed to being open and transparent throughout this process. We are awaiting further information from Beacon to help us understand the full impact of this incident. We will update this page as more verified information becomes available. We will also contact individuals directly as soon as we are able to provide clear and accurate information.
Further information
Beacon, the provider of the database used by St Margaret’s Hospice Care to manage information about our supporters, donors, and others who have chosen to hear from the hospice, has informed us that it has experienced a cyber security incident.
Beacon has advised organisations using its system, including St Margaret’s, to proceed on the basis that information held within the system should be treated as having been accessed while its investigation continues.
Beacon provides the database St Margaret’s Hospice Care uses to store and administer information about our supporters, donors, and others who engage with the hospice. It helps us keep contact details up to date, record interactions and communicate with people who support our work.
No.
This incident relates to a cyber security incident experienced by Beacon, one of our third-party suppliers. St Margaret’s is liaising with Beacon to understand the potential impact on information held on our behalf. We are one of over 1,500 charities potentially impacted across the UK.
No.
This incident relates to a third-party database used to manage supporter and engagement information. Hospice services continue to operate as normal.
We are continuing to assess the information provided by Beacon.
The information held within the database varies depending on an individual’s relationship with the hospice but may include contact details, communication preferences, donation history and records of interactions with St Margaret’s Hospice Care. We do not hold bank or card details on the database.
St Margaret’s Hospice Care holds information about people who have chosen to support or engage with the hospice in different ways. This may include donating, sponsoring someone taking part in a fundraising event, registering for one of our events, volunteering at one of our fundraising events, signing up to hear from us, requesting our newsletter, or contacting us about our work.
When someone donates or supports the hospice, we explain how their information will be used and provide access to our Privacy Notice. Some people may not remember making a donation, particularly if they sponsored a friend or family member taking part in a fundraising event, but this can still result in us holding your contact details unless you chose to donate anonymously.
We only hold information that is necessary to manage our relationship with our supporters and to meet our legal and regulatory obligations.
At this stage we cannot confirm whether any individual’s information has been accessed.
Beacon has advised organisations using its system to proceed on the basis that information held within it should be treated as having been accessed while investigations continue. This is why we are taking precautionary action and being transparent with our supporters, so you are informed and able to be vigilant to any unusual activity.
We understand that some people may be surprised to hear that we still hold their information, particularly if they haven’t donated to or engaged with the hospice for some time.
St Margaret’s Hospice Care retains supporter information for up to 10 years after a person’s last interaction with us. This helps us maintain accurate records of donations, Gift Aid claims, supporter preferences and our relationship with those who have supported the hospice. There are also times when legally we have to meet certain retention periods around data we need to hold on to.
We regularly review the information we hold and securely delete personal data when it reaches the end of its retention period or if someone asks us to remove it where appropriate.
If you would like to know what information we hold about you or would like us to review your records, please contact Email: [email protected] | Telephone: 01935 709485
We may never know for certain whether St Margaret’s data has been compromised, but please be assured we are doing everything we can to understand the situation and obtain answers from Beacon.As and whenwe receive more clarity about the incident and whether your data has been accessed, we will let you know.In the meantime, we advise everyone to remain vigilant to any unusual activity such as unexpected emails, phone calls of requests from third parties for personal or financial information. We understand that this is potentially unsettling and worrying, and we are committed to providing updates as more verified information becomes available.
At this stage, there is no specific action you need to take.
However, we recommend remaining cautious of unexpected emails, telephone calls or text messages requesting personal or financial information.
If something doesn’t feel right, take time to verify who is contacting you before responding.
Be cautious of anyone claiming to be from St Margaret’s Hospice Care, Beacon or another organisation asking you to:
- provide passwords
- disclose financial information
- click unexpected links
- download attachments
- make payments or donations unexpectedly.
If you are unsure whether a communication is genuine, we encourage you to contact us using details you already know rather than those provided in the message.
No.
The hospice continues to operate as normal, and supporters can continue to donate safely through our usual channels.
No.
The Beacon system used by St Margaret’s Hospice Care does not store bank account details or payment card information.
While the investigation continues, we recommend remaining cautious of unexpected emails, telephone calls or messages requesting personal or financial information, as criminals sometimes use publicly known incidents to attempt fraud.
No.
We will never ask you to provide passwords by email.
If we need to contact you regarding this incident, we will explain why we are contacting you and what information we are able to provide.
Please note, that St Margaret’s does have fundraisers out and about in the community, signing up players to our Sponsor a Nurse programme. This may be at sites such as supermarkets and garden centres, as well as door to door. You can check if we have an active campaign in your area by checking our website if you are worried about being approached about a St Margaret’s campaign.
Since being notified by Beacon we have been:
- liaising with Beacon to understand the incident
- assessing the potential impact on the hospice
- notifying the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO), Charity Commission and other relevant regulators
- preparing communications for people who may be affected
- reviewing our own processes while the investigation continues.
We believe it is important to be open and transparent.
Rather than waiting until every detail is known, we want people to understand what has happened, what we know today, and what we are continuing to investigate.
If you have questions that are not answered on this page, please contact:
Email: [email protected]
Telephone: 01935 709485
We appreciate your patience as we respond to enquiries.