Earlier this week, our system was illegally accessed by a disgruntled Local Leader that was terminated. We have caught and stopped the access.
Before stopping access, this individual found a way to download numerous email addresses with name and status information, such as “John Doe, john@doe.com, Founder Institute Chapter, Company Name, Mentor, Accepted.” A limited number of emails and basic information have been downloaded illegally as part of this breach. This individual, posing as a Mentor, used an external newsletter service to send a false and defamatory email about privacy, which some people in our network have received.
Passwords were not accessed, and all passwords are encrypted. Other information was not accessed, such as test scores or any private company data. We apologize for any inconvenience or concern that this may have caused you. If you would like us to delete all of your data from our system, please send an email to removal@founderinstitute.com.
The Founder Institute takes data privacy very seriously. To administer our program effectively, we selectively share email addresses with our Local Leaders and Mentors based upon their role and needs. This access was illegally hacked and abused. We have initiated a security audit with our managed service providers, and we have already taken further steps to limit access to email addresses.
We have notified law enforcement with our evidence from this breach, and, again, we apologize for any inconvenience that this email has caused. We are working tirelessly to remedy the situation.
