Comcast to Pay $1.5M Settlement After Major Vendor Data Breach

There was some bad news for Comcast late last week. Most of us think that when we give our personal information over to a big company, that company will do its best to protect that information. But what if something happens with one of the companies it works with?

What Happened?​

In this case, a lending company that Comcast worked with, called FBCS, was hit by ransomware attacks. That means that they were attacked by hackers who were able to access their computer systems and steal sensitive customer information.

So what was the result of this hack? The hackers stole the personal information of approximately 237,000 Comcast customers.
This included the following items:

• First and last name, home address, and date of birth
• A person's Social Security Number
• Account information

If someone has my Social Security number, I'd be worried too.

Why Is Comcast Paying $1.5 Million?​

Even though Comcast’s own systems were not hacked, the FCC (Federal Communications Commission) says Comcast didn’t properly check and monitor the security of their vendor.

So now Comcast has agreed to:

• Pay $1.5 million
• Improve their security rules
• Watch their vendors more carefully

Why Does This Matter?​

Comcast says they did nothing wrong, but they agreed to the deal anyway.

This story demonstrates a critical point. Even if a company is akin to being "a strong tank", if their partners are weak or careless in protecting customer information, everyone suffers the consequences.

Think about how many companies maintain your personal information. For e.g., banks, internet service providers, application vendors, stores, and others. Most of these companies share your information with others.

What Does This All Mean?

It demonstrates that:

• Corporations need to thoroughly investigate their partner companies before entering into business relationships.
• Consumers should remain vigilant for phone calls and emails claiming to be legitimate (e.g., from banks, etc.).
• All companies must have comprehensive security protocols in place to protect customer data, not only those that were provided at their corporate level.

In conclusion, while $1,500,000 is a significant amount of money, for a corporation the size of Comcast, this incident serves more as a wake-up call than a major loss.