Hackers steal information from the Missouri Botanical Garden

ST. LOUIS, Missouri (First Alert 4) – The Missouri Botanical Garden is taking steps to notify individuals following a cybersecurity incident.

The Missouri Botanical Garden has notified potentially affected individuals of the data security incident. The letter states that on March 7, an unauthorized third party accessed the network and obtained certain files. Outside specialists have been brought in to secure the network and investigate the incident.

“The type of data affected varied by individual. The total affected data set included data such as name, driver's license number, passport number, medical information, health insurance information, and social security number. But not every individual who received this letter necessarily had all of these types of personal information affected by the incident,” the letter said.

The Missouri Botanical Garden told those affected by the incident that they would be provided with free credit monitoring services for 12 months.

The Missouri Botanical Garden issued the following statement to First Alert 4 regarding the cybersecurity incident:

“The Missouri Botanical Garden recently experienced a cybersecurity incident in which some of the data it maintains may have been accessed by an unauthorized user. When we discovered the issue, we engaged outside specialists to investigate the incident and determine possible steps we can take to prevent something similar from happening in the future. We take the privacy and security of the data entrusted to us extremely seriously and notify potentially affected individuals directly.”

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