Comcast (CMCSA) customers can't find a victory.
First, many of them are facing new year's price hikes and now the company's customers are dealing with another big problem. And while this issue may be beyond the cable and internet giant's control, it's still another kick in the teeth for the company's long-suffering customers.
It's also fair to say that Comcast -- while it is responsible for higher prices, slow service, and a lot of other things -- does not carry full responsibility for the huge holiday data breach impacting many of its customers.
Not being fully responsible, however, might make Comcast feel a little better, but it's not likely to make customers feel good about their private data. The cable and internet company was hacked and that makes for a less-than-merry Christmas.
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What Happened to Comcast's Customer Data?
Comcast customers were hacked despite the company having robust security measures in place, according to BleepingComputer.
"Starting on December 19th, many Xfinity email users began receiving notifications that their account information had been changed. However, when attempting to access the accounts, they could not log in as the passwords had been changed," the website reported. "After regaining access to the accounts, they discovered they had been hacked and a secondary email at the disposable @yopmail.com domain was added to their profile."
After the secondary email is set up, the passwords were changed for the primary email account access, thus customers couldn’t access their accounts to change the passwords or remove the secondary email account that was added.
"A researcher has told BleepingComputer that the attacks are being conducted through credential stuffing attacks to determine the login credentials for Xfinity attacks," the website shared.
Hackers once successful in gaining access to accounts began to work even deeper into customers' accounts outside of Xfinity. Getting Xfinity account information is just the first step, when customers get blocked of their email, hackers then have a window of time to then work to gain access to other accounts like Coinbase and Gemini crypto exchanges.
Comcast Gets Hit, Again...
Comcast is no stranger to getting hacked, unfortunately, as it was hit by hackers in the past. In 2021 Comcast customers saw that the company had been hacked when logging on customers were greeted by a cryptic message, "KRYOGENIKS EBK and DEFIANT RoXed COMCAST sHouTz To VIRUS Warlock elul21 coll1er seven and Slacker". The message was in bold pink letters on a white background stated Azmath News.
Individual accounts being hacked happens a lot more than one might think. While a companywide breach of data is more severe, it's much less likely to happen. Hacks on people individual accounts is much more common. There are those steps people can do to try and protect themselves but living in the digital world has its risks.
Even with two-factor authentication, customers still need to engage in more protection, hard passwords and not repeating login information across multiple accounts, and changing passwords frequently. Be sure to have notices for accounts to go to a valid email that is checked on a regular basis, so you will be notified if there is a breach or if someone has accessed your account.
Any Xfinity customers who believe they have been hacked are encouraged by Xfinity to contact them at 1-800-XFINITY (934-6489).
Comcast has not commented publicly or admitted the attacks (but social media is full of the company's customers sharing their experiences).
