ShinyHunters pay-or-leak campaigns reach telecom and communications firms
July, 2026 (May to July 2026)
In May the ShinyHunters group named Charter Communications, the parent of Spectrum, in a pay-or-leak extortion campaign. In July, data tied to about 1.6 million unique email addresses from RingCentral appeared in material the group published. These figures come from analysis of the group's own postings, and security reporters note that the group has a record of overstating its hauls.
Why it matters
The group keeps hitting large service providers that hold data on many downstream customers, so one claim can affect many organizations.
What defenders can take from it
- Treat attacker-published numbers as claims until the victim confirms them.
- Check which of your suppliers are named in extortion postings, and ask them what was taken.