Massive Xfinity Data Breach Affects 32 Million Customers

Comcast, the parent company of Xfinity, has confirmed a massive data breach impacting nearly 36 million customers following the exploitation of a critical vulnerability in Citrix software.

The vulnerability, termed "CitrixBleed" and identified as CVE-2023-4966, was first announced by Citrix on October 10, 2023, and has since been used in a global wave of cyberattacks targeting major corporations and institutions.

The US telecommunications giant detected the breach on October 25, 2023, revealing unauthorized access to its internal systems between October 16 and 19, 2023. This followed Citrix's release of security updates to patch the critical vulnerability. Despite Xfinity's prompt implementation of these patches, the hackers exploited the short window before the fix to gain access to sensitive customer data.

Upon discovering the breach, Xfinity immediately notified federal law enforcement and commenced a thorough investigation. By November 16, 2023, Xfinity acknowledged that the attackers had likely acquired customer data. Further analysis concluded on December 6, revealing that compromised data included usernames, hashed passwords, and, in some cases, names, contact information, the last four digits of social security numbers, dates of birth, and secret questions and answers.

In response to the incident, Xfinity has mandated a password reset for all affected accounts and strongly recommended customers to enable two-factor or multi-factor authentication — a security measure already adopted by many Xfinity users. The company has also advised customers against using the same passwords for multiple accounts, urging them to change passwords for other services where the same credentials are used.

The breach's impact is significant, considering Comcast's reported customer base of over 32 million. This incident not only raises concerns about data security in large corporations but also highlights the persistent threat of cybercriminals exploiting vulnerabilities in third-party software.

Comcast has assured users that it continues to prioritize customer data protection, investing in advanced technology, protocols, and cybersecurity expertise.