It appears a hacker group called RansomHub may have stolen customer data from Frontier Communications in April and is now holding it for ransom. However, specifics on the incident remain unclear, and Frontier isn't providing many details.
The latest: Frontier told the Maine Attorney General that the personal information of around 750,000 customers were "accessed by a third party during a recent cyber incident," according to a message the company sent to affected customers. Frontier said it would provide affected customers with free credit monitoring and identity-theft resolution services for one year through Kroll. The company also said it has taken steps "to further strengthen our network security and prevent further access by the third party."
Frontier said it "notified law enforcement and applicable regulatory authorities."
The company previously disclosed that the third party involved in the April 14 incident "was likely a cybercrime group, which gained access to, among other information, personally identifiable information."
Even more concerning, Bleeping Computer reported this week that RansomHub, an extortion group, claimed responsibility for the April attack on Frontier. And now the group is auctioning up to 5GB of data on up to 2 million Frontier customers.
"Data is more than 2 million customer with address name email ssn credit score date of birth and phone number. We gave frontier 2 months to contact us but they don't care about clients data," according to a post from RansomHub reported by Bleeping Computer.
According to the publication, RansomHub said Frontier has until June 14 to respond to its demands, and then it will auction the data to the highest bidder.
Frontier hasn't commented on the incident beyond its initial SEC filing in April and its recent warning to the Maine Attorney General.
According to Leichtman Research Group, Frontier is the seventh largest broadband Internet supplier in the US, with almost 3 million customers. The company's copper and fiber network stretches across large portions of the East and West Coasts.
Frontier, of course, is not the only network operator to suffer technical problems. For example, EchoStar's Dish Network last year reported a "cybersecurity incident" that impacted its ability to install services, take payments and provide customer care for several weeks.