Cable and broadband provider Time Warner Cable has revealed that the passwords of up to 320,000 customers may have been stolen, along with their email addresses.
A Time Warner Cable spokesman has confirmed that the company was the target of a possible phishing attack that resulted in the leak of 320,000 customer credentials including email addresses and account passwords, according to Reuters.
The company admitted that it has still not discovered the means of the leak. Despite the lack of evidence of the exploit, the company also claimed that Time Warner Cable’s systems were not breached.
The possibility of a leak was originally realized after the company was notified by the Federal Bureau of Investigation about multiple email addresses and account passwords being compromised.
While the indication was one of the likelihood that passwords “may have been compromised”, Time Warner is being deliberate in stating that its customers’ passwords and emails ‘may’ have had their passwords compromised.
Another theory for the leak is the possibility of a phishing attack through which malware may have been triggered. The other floated theory is that of a breach itself, with a malicious actor targeting Time Warner Cable’s servers that contained customer details including email addresses and passwords.
The spokesman also revealed that the company is reaching out to customers to inform them of the possible leak. More importantly, Time Warner Cable is reaching out to customers directly through physical mail and email. The reason for the correspondence serves as an important and precautionary reminder in asking customers to change their email passwords.
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