In October 2023, Hope for Justice’s systems flagged that a former employee had been attempting to access our database of United States donors and supporters without authorization.
Safeguarding the information entrusted to us by our donors and partners remains one of our highest priorities. Hope for Justice does not store donors’ sensitive financial information (such as credit card information) and no financial data was compromised.
We reported the incident to the appropriate law enforcement authorities in the United States. We also immediately informed the relevant authorities in the UK, where our global headquarters and data hosting are located. We sought specialist legal advice in both the UK and the US to determine the appropriate next steps.
Following a thorough investigation and consultation with legal and regulatory bodies, we confirmed that the incident did not trigger any notification obligations at the time of the incident.
We want to thank law enforcement for the thoroughness of their investigation and treating this matter with appropriate seriousness.
Legal action seeking compensatory and punitive damages and an injunction is also now underway.
We are continuing to work closely with our legal counsel to assess the impact this incident has had on the focus of our mission, which is to bring freedom from human trafficking by identifying victims, supporting survivors and preventing exploitation.
As this is ongoing litigation, we are unable to comment further.
