On April 22, 2024, the Catholic Diocese of Cleveland filed a notice of data breach with the Attorney General of Montana after discovering that an unauthorized party accessed an employee’s email account. In this notice, the Diocese of Cleveland explains that the incident resulted in an unauthorized party being able to access consumers’ sensitive information, which includes their names, dates of birth, Social Security numbers, taxpayer identification numbers, financial account information, routing numbers, driver’s license numbers, health insurance information, and passport numbers. Upon completing its investigation, the Diocese of Cleveland began sending out data breach notification letters to all individuals whose information was affected by the recent data security incident.

If you received a data breach notification from the Catholic Diocese of Cleveland, it is essential you understand what is at risk and what you can do about it. A data breach lawyer can help you learn more about how to protect yourself from becoming a victim of fraud or identity theft, as well as discuss your legal options following the Catholic Diocese of Cleveland data breach. For more information, please see our recent piece on the topic here.

What Caused the Catholic Diocese of Cleveland Data Breach?

The Catholic Diocese of Cleveland data breach was only recently announced, and more information is expected in the near future. However, the Diocese of Cleveland’s filing with the Attorney General of Montana provides some important information on what led up to the breach. The Diocese of Cleveland also posted a website notice discussing the incident.

According to these sources, on January 12, 2024, the Diocese of Cleveland detected an information security incident after an unauthorized party was able to access an employee’s email account. In response, the Diocese secured its email environment and then launched an investigation with the help of third-party cybersecurity experts.

Through this investigation, the Diocese of Cleveland determined that the email account was accessible by an unauthorized party between December 14, 2023 and January 12, 2024. It was also confirmed that the unauthorized party was able to access certain emails and attachments containing confidential consumer information.

After learning that sensitive consumer data was accessible to an unauthorized party, the Catholic Diocese of Cleveland reviewed the compromised files to determine what information was leaked and which consumers were impacted. The Catholic Diocese of Cleveland completed this process on March 14, 2024. While the breached information varies depending on the individual, it may include your name, date of birth, Social Security number, financial account information, routing number, driver’s license number, health insurance information, and passport number.

On April 22, 2024, the Catholic Diocese of Cleveland sent out data breach letters to anyone who was affected by the recent data security incident. These letters should provide victims with a list of what information belonging to them was compromised.

More Information About Catholic Diocese of Cleveland

Founded in 1947, the Catholic Diocese of Cleveland is a religious organization serving residents of Cuyahoga, Summit, Lorain, Lake, Geauga, Medina, Wayne, and Ashland counties. The Diocese has over 613,000 members and is one of the largest diocesan systems of social services in the world. There are 185 parishes, 108 Catholic schools, one pastoral center and one mission office within the diocese.