Data of 36 million Xfinity customers stolen
Xfinity, a subsidiary of American media and telecommunications giant Comcast, has been hacked by hackers. Hackers who found the vulnerability stole data, including sensitive information, from nearly 36 million users. The company says the hackers may have accessed users’ names, contact information, dates of birth, the last four digits of their Social Security numbers, and secret questions and answers. This time, the hackers targeted Xfinity, the cable television and internet company of American telecommunications and media giant Comcast. Critical information of 36 million Xfinity customers fell into the hands of hackers who exploited a security vulnerability. The company confirmed that its customers’ sensitive information was stolen. Known as “CitrixBleed,” the vulnerability is found in Citrix network devices, which are frequently used by large companies, and has been attacked by hackers since August. Hackers used the CitrixBleed vulnerability to infiltrate major companies, including aviation giant Boeing, the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China, and the international law firm Allen & Overy. Comcast's cable TV and internet business Xfinity is the latest victim of CitrixBleed, the company confirmed in a notice to customers on Monday. The US telecoms giant said hackers exploiting the CitrixBleed vulnerability gained access to its internal systems between October 16 and 19, but the company was not able to detect the "malicious attack" until October 25. Secret questions and answers also accessed The company says hackers may have also accessed names, contact details, dates of birth, last four digits of social security numbers and secret questions and answers for an unspecified number of customers. "Our data analysis is ongoing and we will provide additional notifications as appropriate," Comcast said, suggesting additional types of data may have been accessed. Comcast confirmed in a filing with the Maine attorney general's office that about 35.8 million customers were affected by the breach. Comcast's latest earnings report shows the company has more than 32 million broadband customers, suggesting the breach affected most, if not all, Xfinity customers.