Comcast Cable discloses breach of private data of more than 230,000 customers

US cable giant Comcast said private information of 237,703 customers – including Social Security numbers – was accessed by an “unauthorized third party” earlier this year.

Comcast disclosed the vulnerability in a filing with the Maine Attorney General’s Office on October 3, as previously reported by tech news website Bleeping Computer. The February 2024 incident involved unauthorized access to systems at Financial Business and Consumer Solutions, a third-party provider previously used by Comcast. Comcast said in a notice to customers, which was also sent to the Maine AG’s office, that the security incident “occurred entirely at FBCS and not at Xfinity or on Comcast systems.”

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FBCS’ investigation revealed that the files downloaded by the hacker(s) included the name, address, social security number, date of birth of Comcast customers, as well as Comcast account numbers and ID numbers used internally at FBCS, the release said from Comcast.

On March 13, 2024, FBCS notified Comcast that a data breach had occurred, but said Comcast’s consumer data was “not compromised,” according to the cable company. But on July 17, FBCS told Comcast that from February 14 to February 26, 2024, “an unauthorized party gained access to FBCS’s computer network and some of its computers” and accessed Comcast customer data dating back to 2021. FBCS also notified the FBI of the attack, according to a Comcast customer notice.

According to Comcast, the company is offering affected customers at least 12 months of free identity theft protection services through membership in CyEx Identity Defense Complete, which includes credit monitoring services.

Comcast also said that in addition to signing up for identity theft protection services, it encourages customers to “stay alert for fraud or identity theft incidents by checking their bank statements and free credit reports for unauthorized activity.”

Separately, Comcast Business released its 2024 Cybersecurity Threat Report on Monday (October 7), based on analysis of 29 billion cybersecurity events detected by Comcast Business across its security customers in 2023. The report “highlights significant changes in the cybersecurity landscape, “driven by sophisticated threat actors, a growing attack surface and the transformative power of AI,” the company said.

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