The most recent victim of yet another major cyber attack is United States company, Time Warner Cable. The cable television giant has advised that 320,000 of its customers to access their accounts and change their email passwords as the company believes that the cyber hackers may gained access..
In a statement, Time Warner said it was notified by the FBI that, “some of our customers’ email addresses, including account passwords, may have been compromised.”
The company also stated in an email to its customers that, “Our understanding is that the compromise had nothing to do with [Time Warner’s] systems or processes. [The company] has found no evidence of a breach in its systems that operate and secure email accounts for our customers.”
A spokesperson for Time Warner, Nathalie Burgos, said only the customers with Roadrunner email addresses are possibly affected. Roadrunner email addresses are those that include the letters “rr” in the domain name.
Burgos said that Time Warner has not yet determined just how its customers’ email addresses and passwords were obtained. However, she did note that the information may have been stolen by malware that was downloaded during phishing attacks. It may have also been stolen indirectly via data breaches of other entities and companies that stored the information of Time Warner Cable customers – including email addresses and passwords.
Phishing attacks happen when ill-willed people send emails to other people directing them to click on a link so that they can “update” their personal information such as credit card accounts and email passwords. The embedded links then direct the unsuspecting users to bogus websites that resemble the sites of legitimate companies. And when people access such a website, two things can happen: either the victims “update” their information, thereby giving the thieves direct access to their personal data; or simply clicking on the link triggers the download of malware directly onto their personal computers, which can then collect all sorts of personal information.
Time Warner’s customers across the country were notified this week and were strongly advised to change their passwords by going to the website http://twc.com/emailpassword and following the directions.
Customers with any questions may call the company at 1-844-899-8913. Additionally, Time Warner Cable Business Class customers may call 1-866-892-4249.T
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