Cable television provider Cox Communications Inc. has been hit by a data breach after a hacker impersonated a support agent to gain access to customer information.
Many customers of Cox Communications (NYSE: COX) started receiving letters this week that warned them of the data breach. The letter stated that on Oct.11 that “unknown person(s) had impersonated a Cox agent and gained access to a small number of customer accounts.”
The company said that it had taken steps to secure the affected customer accounts and had notified law enforcement of the incident. Further investigation discovered that the hacker may have viewed certain types of customer information. The information included name, address, telephone number, Cox account number, Cox.net email address, username, PIN code, account security question and answer, and other information of other types of services that a customer receives from Cox.
Affected customers were urged to review their financial account statements for fraudulent activity. Cox is also offering one year of free Experian credit monitoring services “to help relieve concerns and restore confidence following this incident.”
The exact details of how the hacker successfully impersonated a support agent were not disclosed, but it’s likely given that social engineering was involved.
“Now that the hacker(s) are armed with a high volume of personally identifiable information, Cox customers are at risk of additional phishing emails and other forms of fraud at the hands of threat actors,” Sanders added. “Customers should ensure they are using security best practices such as updating their passwords and leveraging two-factor authentication to protect their accounts.”
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