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Medium

Charter Communications Data Breach by ShinyHunters Exposes Millions of Records

Telecommunications giant Charter Communications (Spectrum) suffered a data breach attributed to the ShinyHunters hacking group.

Key points

  • ShinyHunters ransomware group responsible
  • Data leaked on dark web after failed ransom negotiations
  • Approximately 42 million records claimed by attackers (13 million customer, 27,000 employee)

Connected intelligence

Signal brief

Follow the organization, likely method and potential impact to explore connected Shadow Tier intelligence.

02

Likely method

Phishing Social Engineering

Error activity

03

Potential impact

Data Exposure

Confidentiality

Published
Jun 5, 2026
Updated
Jun 29, 2026
Confidence
Medium
Evidence
5 sources

Structured assessment

Signal analysis

This analysis groups the signal by industry, likely incident action and impacted security area. It helps compare this signal with other published signals without treating the labels as final determinations.

Threat source

Error activity

Watch process controls, misconfiguration and accidental disclosure paths.

  • Source type: possible insider or internal misuse

Business impact

Potential data exposure
Impact area
Confidentiality
Likely asset
User or customer data

Mentioned entities

CharterData DisclosureTelecommunicationsCharter CommunicationsSpectrumShinyHuntersWhile CharterMicrosoft EntraApproximately

Quick context

Questions about this signal

What happened in this signal?

Telecommunications giant Charter Communications (Spectrum) suffered a data breach attributed to the ShinyHunters hacking group. The group posted data on a dark web leak site after ransom negotiations failed. While Charter stated no sensitive data was stolen, ShinyHunters claimed to have released 42 million records, including 13 million customer records and nearly 27,000 employee records. The compromised data allegedly includes full names, email addresses, home and company addresses, and support ticket details for customers, and work emails, job titles, and home addresses for employees. The initial breach occurred around April 1, 2026, via a vishing attack on an employee's Microsoft Entra account, with the data leak and significant reporting occurring on June 5, 2026.

When was this signal reported?

Shadow Tier lists Jun 5, 2026 as the signal date.

Which organization is connected to this signal?

Charter is the organization connected to this public signal.

Explore Charter
Which attack pattern is relevant?

This signal is connected to phishing and social-engineering intelligence based on its reported incident context.

Explore phishing and social-engineering intelligence
Which impact area is relevant?

This signal is connected to data exposure and breach intelligence based on its reported consequences.

Explore data exposure and breach intelligence