Important Update Regarding a Security Incident Affecting Our Audience Data

The Paul Mellon Centre (PMC) is currently in the process of implementing a new CRM (Customer Relationship Management) System and this platform – Beacon CRM – has experienced a cybersecurity breach that involved unauthorised access to Beacon’s systems. As a result, some of our users' information may have been accessed and downloaded by a third party.

What data is affected?

The data potentially affected includes full name; email address; telephone number; institutional affiliation; and full postal addresses. The data accessed does not include any information about academic or research projects; financial information (eg. bank details or payment information); or special category data (e.g. health; religion; race etc).

We want to reassure you that the data potentially affected relates to peoples' past interactions with the Centre and does not include any ‘live’ applications or ongoing interactions (for example: current grant applications etc.). This information is held securely outside the Beacon system. While we await further news from Beacon, no more data will be entered into the Beacon’s CRM. There is no disruption to our website or our existing online services.

What this means for you

Beacon have informed us that they acted promptly to secure their systems and are working with cyber security experts to understand more about what happened. While financial information or passwords were not held in our system, we advise those who have used our online services previously to remain cautious of unexpected emails and to avoid clicking on any suspicious links or engaging with unusual communications such as phone calls or text messages from unknown numbers.

What happens next

We are very sorry your data may have been exposed as a result of this incident. We take the security of your data very seriously and will continue to monitor the situation.

If you have any questions, please feel free to send them to us at the following address: dataprotection@paul-mellon-centre.ac.uk and we will endeavour to answer them as soon as possible.