Account information for over 320,000 Time Warner cable customers was stolen yesterday, mostly due to malware and phishing attacks on Time Warner partner companies. If you’re a subscriber, you know the drill: change your password now.




Surprisingly, the FBI alerted Time Warner to the breach, instead of the company discovering it themselves. The FBI explained that some of their customers’ account data may have been compromised, including usernames and passwords (and the report didn’t specify whether those passwords were hashed and salted when they were obtained.)

Time Warner isn’t totally sure exactly how the information was obtained, or where the security lapse took place, but they don’t think it was a breach in their own systems. They’re saying the information was likely obtained through third-party companies that Time Warner partners with. VentureBeat notes:

At this time, Time Warner Cable isn’t aware of how a breach could have occurred, but the company has suggested it could have been the result of a phishing attack or even a breach of third parties that store its customers’ information. “For those customers whose account information was stolen, we are contacting them individually to make them aware and to help them reset their passwords,” Mangan said. “Additionally, through our website, we provide several tips for how to navigate the Web more carefully and how to avoid phishing schemes.”


Time Warner also noted that users with “Roadrunner” accounts, or those that have rr.com in their email address, are at particular risk.

Even if Time Warner says it’s notifying impacted customers, it’s a good idea to go and change your password now. Use good password hygiene, get a password manager, and don’t use the same password on multiple sites.

Time Warner Cable advises 320,000 customers of possible hack | VentureBeat via Reuters

