Charter Communications charter.com Charter (Spectrum) data breach: what happened and what to do
In May 2026, data stolen from Charter, the company behind Spectrum, was leaked. Have I Been Pwned lists 4,851,517 accounts with emails, names, phone numbers and addresses. Charter said no sensitive personal information was taken.
View all 13,115 breaches- Breach date
- 23 May 2026
- Affected
- 4,851,517
- Data exposed
- Email addresses, Job titles, Names, Phone numbers, Physical addresses
- Verified
- Yes
- Last updated
Source: Have I Been Pwned (CC BY 4.0)
Charter Communications is the company behind Spectrum internet, TV and mobile service. In late May 2026, an extortion group listed Charter as a victim and then published data. Have I Been Pwned (HIBP) added 4,851,517 accounts on 28 May 2026.
What happened
HIBP dates the breach to 23 May 2026. The attackers claimed they had taken more than 42 million records. Charter has not confirmed that figure, and some reviewers said duplicated records inflated it. The number HIBP could verify is 4,851,517 unique email addresses.
According to the attackers' own account, a voice phishing call around 1 April 2026 compromised a Charter employee's Microsoft account, and they then exported data from Charter's Salesforce environment. That is their claim, not a finding by Charter. Charter said it confirmed the incident and that no sensitive personal information or customer proprietary network information was taken. Some outlets questioned how far that claim holds, so read it as the company's position.
Law firms have announced investigations into possible class action claims. As of this writing no settlement has been reported.
What was exposed
HIBP lists five data types: email addresses, job titles, names, phone numbers and physical addresses. The job titles come from about 85,000 records that appear to be from an internal employee directory.
What that lets criminals do
A name, phone number, email and home address, together with the knowledge that you are a Spectrum customer, make scam calls easy to write. A caller can say they are from Spectrum about an outage, a billing error, a refund or a modem swap, and they can read your address back to you.
The same details support account takeover attempts at your phone carrier. Criminals call the carrier, pose as you and try to port your number to a new SIM. Spectrum Mobile customers should watch for this.
For the employees in the directory, job titles help attackers write believable messages aimed at coworkers and vendors, a tactic called spear phishing.
The company's response
Charter confirmed the incident and said that sensitive personal information and customer network information were not taken. It has not published a verified count of affected people. Look for a direct notice from Charter, and check its own site for updates.
What this means in practice
Your Spectrum account is the thing to protect. Anyone who can pass as Spectrum on the phone or by email can ask you to hand over a code. Hang up and call back using the number on your bill. The same goes for texts: a link in a message about your service is not a reason to log in. Type the address yourself, and ask for any verification code to be sent only to the app or number you chose.
What to do if you were in it
- 1
Expect calls and emails posing as Spectrum
Messages about outages, refunds or billing problems may use your real address. Hang up and call the number on your bill, or sign in to the Spectrum site yourself.
- 2
Secure your Spectrum account
Use a unique password and turn on two-factor authentication. Never read a verification code to anyone who calls you.
- 3
Add a PIN to your mobile account
If you use Spectrum Mobile or another carrier, ask for an account PIN and port-out lock so nobody can move your number.
- 4
Watch for smishing
Treat texts with links about your service or payment as fake until you check in the app.
- 5
Check whether your email or phone is in this and other breaches
Run a free scan at serus.ai to see which breaches include your email address or phone number. Serus monitors breach databases and the dark web and alerts you when your data shows up, so you hear about the next one early. It can't remove data from breach dumps, which is why the other steps here matter.
Frequently asked
Was I affected by the Charter data breach?
HIBP lists 4,851,517 accounts. Search your email on Have I Been Pwned or run a free Serus scan.
What was exposed in the Charter breach?
Email addresses, job titles, names, phone numbers and physical addresses. The job titles came from employee directory records.
Is it true that 42 million records were taken?
That is the attackers' claim, which Charter has not confirmed. HIBP verified 4,851,517 unique accounts.
Is there a settlement?
No settlement has been reported. Law firms have announced investigations into possible class action claims.
Sources
Something wrong or out of date? Tell us and we'll re-check it.
