Comcast Breach Incident Score: Analysis & Impact (COM1764611939)

In this Rankiteo incident briefing, we review the Comcast breach identified under incident ID COM1764611939.

The analysis begins with a detailed overview of Comcast's information like the linkedin page: https://www.linkedin.com/company/comcast, the number of followers: 706769, the industry type: Telecommunications and the number of employees: 60212 employees

After the initial compromise, the video explains how Rankiteo's incident engine converts technical details into a normalized incident score. The incident score before the incident was 449 and after the incident was 280 with a difference of -169 which is could be a good indicator of the severity and impact of the incident.

In the next step of the video, we will analyze in more details the incident and the impact it had on Comcast and their customers.

Comcast recently reported "Comcast Vendor Data Breach Exposing 237,000+ Customer Records", a noteworthy cybersecurity incident.

The FCC's Enforcement Bureau announced that Comcast agreed to pay $1.5 million to resolve a vendor data breach that exposed personal data (including home addresses and Social Security numbers) of over 237,000 current and former customers.

The disruption is felt across the environment, and exposing Home addresses and Social Security numbers, with nearly 237,703 records at risk, plus an estimated financial loss of $1.5 million (settlement).

In response, teams activated the incident response plan, and began remediation that includes Enhanced data inventory program and Vendor oversight practices for customer privacy, and stakeholders are being briefed through Customer notifications (237,703 affected) and Public disclosure via FCC order.

The case underscores how Resolved (FCC settlement reached), teams are taking away lessons such as Importance of third-party vendor risk management and real-time data inventory tracking for PII shared with external partners, and recommending next steps like Implement stricter vendor cybersecurity audits, Enhance real-time monitoring of PII shared with third parties and Develop incident response protocols for vendor-originated breaches, with advisories going out to stakeholders covering 237,703 customers notified of data exposure.

Finally, we try to match the incident with the MITRE ATT&CK framework to see if there is any correlation between the incident and the MITRE ATT&CK framework.

The MITRE ATT&CK framework is a knowledge base of techniques and sub-techniques that are used to describe the tactics and procedures of cyber adversaries. It is a powerful tool for understanding the threat landscape and for developing effective defense strategies.

Rankiteo's analysis has identified several MITRE ATT&CK tactics and techniques associated with this incident, each with varying levels of confidence based on available evidence. Under the Initial Access tactic, the analysis identified Trusted Relationship (T1199) with high confidence (95%), supported by evidence indicating third-Party Vendor (FBCS) Compromise, ransomware attack on Financial Business and Consumer Solutions (FBCS). Under the Exfiltration tactic, the analysis identified Exfiltration Over Alternative Protocol: Exfiltration Over Unencrypted/Obfuscated Non-C2 Protocol (T1048.003) with moderate to high confidence (85%), supported by evidence indicating data exfiltration such as true, Social Security numbers and home addresses stolen and Automated Exfiltration (T1020) with moderate to high confidence (80%), supported by evidence indicating ransomware attack implying automated data collection/exfiltration from FBCS. Under the Impact tactic, the analysis identified Data Encrypted for Impact (T1486) with moderate to high confidence (70%), supported by evidence indicating type such as Ransomware Attack (implied encryption though not explicitly confirmed) and Data Destruction (T1485) with moderate confidence (60%), supported by evidence indicating ransomware attack (potential destructive impact on FBCS systems). Under the Credential Access tactic, the analysis identified Unsecured Credentials: Credentials In Files (T1552.001) with moderate to high confidence (75%), supported by evidence indicating high-value targets such as Comcast customer PII (suggests credentials/PII stored in vendor files). Under the Defense Evasion tactic, the analysis identified Indicator Removal: File Deletion (T1070.004) with moderate to high confidence (70%), supported by evidence indicating ransomware attack (common post-exfiltration cleanup) and Impair Defenses: Disable/Modify Tools (T1562.001) with moderate confidence (65%), supported by evidence indicating delayed breach notification by FBCS (March to July 2024) (suggests evasion of detection). Under the Lateral Movement tactic, the analysis identified Exploitation of Remote Services (T1210) with moderate confidence (60%), supported by evidence indicating multiple entities (Comcast, CF Medical, Truist Bank) impacted via FBCS (suggests pivoting). These correlations help security teams understand the attack chain and develop appropriate defensive measures based on the observed tactics and techniques.