Frontier Communications, a prominent American telecom provider, is currently in the process of restoring its systems after falling victim to a cyberattack. The company, which provides gigabit Internet speeds over a fiber-optic network to millions of consumers and businesses across 25 states, had to partially shut down some systems to prevent the threat actors from laterally moving through the network. This led to some operational disruptions.

Despite the company's swift response, Frontier has admitted that the attackers were able to access some personally identifiable information (PII). However, it has not disclosed whether this data belonged to customers, employees, or both.

"On April 14, 2024, Frontier Communications Parent, Inc. [...] detected that a third party had gained unauthorized access to portions of its information technology environment," the company stated in a filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission on Thursday.

Frontier has since confirmed that it believes the breach has been contained and has restored its core IT systems affected during the incident. The company is now focusing on restoring normal business operations.

Despite Frontier's reassurances, many customers have reported that their Internet connection has been down since the incident and that support phone numbers are playing prerecorded messages instead of redirecting to a human operator.

In response to the incident, Frontier has engaged cybersecurity experts and notified law enforcement authorities. "The Company continues to investigate the incident [...] The Company does not believe the incident is reasonably likely to materially impact the Company’s financial condition or results of operations," Frontier added in the SEC filing.

As the company works to restore its systems and reassure its customers, this incident serves as a stark reminder of the ever-present threat of cybercrime in our increasingly digital world.