8,000 Comcast User Passwords Exposed – Update: Comcast tells us only about 700 users impacted….

16 Mar 2009

According to the New York Times, a list of more than 8,000 Comcast user names and passwords were left exposed on the Internet for all to see for roughly the last two months. The information was posted to a document sharing website named Scribd by a user named vuthanhan2004, had been viewed over 345 times, and had been downloaded 27 times. Comcast tells the Times the passwords probably came from a phishing expedition and not from inside the cable giant. According to the Times, the carrier is freezing the e-mail accounts of impacted customers, and is “contacting them to educate them about using safe passwords.”

Update: Comcast offered us this statement regarding the exposed user information, saying the total number of impacted customers was closer to 700:

Earlier today, we were alerted a Web site was hosting a document that reportedly contained Comcast .net customer user IDs and passwords. Based on an initial analysis of the document, we have identified that only about 700 of these accounts are real. The list was likely generated as the result of a phishing scam or some kind of malware that affected customer computers. We have no reason to believe that any Comcast systems have been compromised. The site has removed the document and we are in the process of freezing access to any customer’s account on that list. We are also in the process of proactively contacting customers to let them know about this situation and the steps they can take to help protect themselves. Comcast takes customer privacy very seriously and it is precisely because of times like this that we have been providing free security software and tools for years to help customers protect themselves from phishing scams and malware.

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