Breaking: Multiple Fundraising Platforms Targeted By Bots
Artificial intelligence bots attacked multiple fundraising platforms in what is being described by technology experts as a multi-pronged assault on nonprofit applications.
The attacks appear to be coordinated. Said one nonprofit technologist speaking on background, “Keep going. The hole is way deeper.” Another told The NonProfit Times on background that in at least one case funds were diverted from a platform. The IP addresses of the bots are all outside the United States but could have been rerouted from the United States to mask the location.
Sources told The NonProfit Times that there was a conference call this morning when nonprofit leaders realized the attacks on their platforms were not isolated to them, although most did not return messages to The NonProfit Times for comment.
“We have a lot of evidence to show these attacks are being run and they’re utilizing AI bots,” said Lauren Sheehan, president of SofterWare, owner of platform DonorPerfect. While the attack has been contained, the DonorPerfect application is down and there are functionality issues on marketing pages and forms.
Numerous platforms are having issues, such as GoFundfMe Pro. Microsoft announced a systemwide shutdown of its Outlook and Teams.
While impacted nonprofits can still accept online donations some are not able to synch to their fundraising constituent relationship management systems, either because of the attack or for safety. “GoFundMe Pro is not down. Donation processing remains uninterrupted, and organizations can continue to safely receive donations,” said Emily Wright, director of Nonprofit Communications at GoFundMe. “GoFundMe Pro integration with Salesforce has been temporarily disabled as a precaution.”
GoFundMe is keeping users updated at updated on that issue here: status.gofundme.com. Software is likewise keeping users up to date at https://status.donorperfect.com
“We sent an email to all of our clients letting them know that the investigation is ongoing and at this particular time we do not have a determination of who was impacted or what if anything was taken,” said Sheehan. “We just wanted to lean in and be transparent and get the word out. It’s kind of more eyes on things. If you see something, say something could be helpful.”
“We’ve got an investigation that is happening right now. We have identified the root cause of the incident … The initial access point was through our marketing website,” said Sheehan. “I can tell you that we were already investigating an issue when we got an email from another technology leader who was absolutely experiencing an attack from the same bad actor,” she said.
“I’ve had two calls this morning with two separate technology leaders. I’m not prepared to provide their names now, but we are not the only ones that this is happening to,” said Sheehan.
At this writing, the DonorPerfect (donorperfect.com) and SafeSave Payments (safesavepayments.com) public websites have been restored and are accessible. The DonorPerfect application itself remains temporarily unavailable. Sheehan was unable to provide a timeline for the application to get back online, suggesting it could several days.
A SofterWare official said that as a donation processing platform it is often the target of bad actors but have extensive systems and procedures in place to ensure that data and donations are secure. “What’s different this time is that an AI agent was is rapidly adapting its approaches and discovering new methods to attack systems within seconds or minutes,” the official said on background.
The NonProfit Times will be updating the story as more information comes in.
