The organisation that translates and distributes the Christian Bible in the UK and around the globe was hit with a ransomware attack recently. Data of 417,000 supporters fell into the hands of the anti-christ hackers .  The hackers didn’t damage or destroy the data, but they managed to pull out some credit card information.

The organisation earns its living from card donations from its supporters in the UK and around the world. Those that donated have had their data stored on a service account, on the same network. It was configured in such a way that it could be accessed remotely. It was protected by prayer and an with an “easy-to-guess” password,

The ICO's head of enforcement, Steve Eckersley, said: "The Bible Society failed to protect a significant amount of personal data, and exposed its supporters to possible financial or identity fraud. Our investigation determined that it is likely that the religious belief of the 417,000 supporters could be inferred, and the distress this kind of breach can cause cannot be underestimated."

He said that organisations need to have strong security measures in place to make it as difficult as possible for intruders.

The ICO found the society failed to take appropriate technical and organisational steps to protect its supporters’ personal data. It has since taken substantial remedial action and has fully co-operated with the ICO’s investigation, it said.