Ransomware Shuts Down Tele-Fundraising Company

Company closes doors without notice.

A tele-fundraising firm in Arkansas shut down, telling employees they should “search for other employment,” after recovery efforts from a ransomware attack failed. The Heritage Company lost hundreds of thousands of dollars after they paid a ransom to the attackers but still were unable to restore systems. After two months of data recovery efforts, the company was unable to regain control of systems or the situation.

The attack took place at the beginning of October 2019, but was not made public to employees while the company struggled to repair and contain the damage. CEO Sandra Franecke released a letter to employees late in December explaining that over the weeks and months of recovery efforts, leaders didn’t understand the extent of damage. Company executives also did not appreciate the difficulty the company would face to recover key systems, such as accounting or mail processing.

The timing and sudden announcement of the closure, two days before Christmas, and the uncertain future of the company left employees reeling. Former employees were asked to call a hotline to receive an update on their job status. A pre-recorded message informed them on January 2 that recovery efforts were ongoing with “much work that needs to be done.” Employees who spoke to the media said they are looking for employment somewhere else and they don’t think Heritage will open again anytime soon. The company has been in business for 61 years.

At Ostra, we believe this doesn’t have to happen. We are committed to protecting small businesses without large IT budgets or cyber security expertise with the same top-of-the-line cyber security tools that protect large organizations. Partner with Ostra for Enterprise Grade Security to prevent ransomware and the costly aftermath of an attack.