Cox Communications Settles Data Breach Investigation with $595,000 Payment

Cox Communications recently reached a settlement with the Federal Communications Commission (“FCC”) involving a $595,000 payment following an investigation into a significant data breach that occurred in 2014. The investigation revealed that Cox failed to adequately protect the personal information of its customers, resulting in unauthorized access by hackers. This breach exposed sensitive details including names, addresses, email addresses, and in some cases, partial social security and driver’s license numbers of Cox's subscribers, as well as Customer Proprietary Network Information (“CPNI”) of telephone customers. The breach was facilitated when a hacker, using the alias "EvilJordie" from the "Lizard Squad" hacker group, deceived Cox employees into divulging their account credentials through a phishing attack.