Priya Patel
TLDR:
Frontier Communications, a leading telecommunications provider, experienced a cyber attack by an unidentified cybercrime group that accessed personally identifiable information. The company temporarily shut down services to prevent further access and believes it has resolved the issue. No hacker organization has claimed responsibility for the breach. This incident adds to a recent trend of cyber attacks on telecom companies, including a major breach at AT&T earlier this year.
Full Article:
Frontier Communications, a prominent telecom provider in the US, recently disclosed that it had suffered a cyberattack by a cybercrime group. The breach occurred when the group gained unauthorized access to sensitive information through specific systems. Despite the company’s efforts to temporarily shut down services and manage the issue, the attackers were able to access personally identifiable information (PII) but did not specify whether it pertained to customers, employees, or both. Frontier has since restored its critical IT infrastructure and resumed normal operations.
As of Thursday afternoon, no hacker organization has claimed responsibility for the attack. This incident is part of a growing trend of cyber breaches targeting telecom companies, with AT&T being a notable victim earlier this year. In the AT&T breach, sensitive information such as social security numbers, addresses, and passcodes of millions of customers was compromised. The company took swift action to reset passcodes and alert impacted individuals but has not determined how the data was obtained.
In response to these cyber threats, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) recently updated its data breach guidelines for telecommunications companies to strengthen cybersecurity reporting requirements. Despite these efforts, a study found that existing US cybersecurity breach reporting rules have had little impact on reducing data breaches.
Overall, the Frontier Communications cyber breach highlights the ongoing challenges that telecom companies face in protecting sensitive information from cyber attackers. With no hacker group claiming responsibility and the FCC working to enhance cybersecurity regulations, the industry remains vigilant in safeguarding customer data and preventing future breaches.
