AIDS vaccine non-profit suffers hacker attack

International AIDS Vaccine Initiative (IAVI), a global non-profit working to develop vaccines for AIDS and HIV, had people’s sensitive details stolen.

Malicious actors struck the organization a couple of days before Christmas, IAVI explained in a breach notification letter, distributed to affected individuals. Attackers accessed the company‘s network and managed to stay undetected for at least four days.

After the attack, IAVI hired an independent cybersecurity vendor to look into the breach. Cyber pros came back with a conclusion that “certain human resources data” may have been involved in the hacker attack.

At this point, it’s unclear how many individuals have been impacted and what type of data was exposed. We have reached out to the non-profit for comment and will update the article once we receive a reply.

Even though the breach notification, submitted to Massachusetts’ Office of Consumer Affairs and Business Regulation, says there’s “no reason to believe” that individuals’ data was exposed, IAVI is taking some precautions.

For one, whoever was impacted in the attack is eligible for a free-of-charge two-year membership of identity protection and identity theft services. Additionally, impacted individuals are advised to remain vigilant and monitor their financial statements and credit reports.

Established in 1996, IAVI is among the leading organizations for HIV prevention. While the organization is headquartered in New York, it has operational staff in seven countries, spanning four continents.