People search Cisco data breach timeline because the brand sits on billions of accounts, credentials, and cloud workloads. BreachHistory indexes 6 Cisco-linked incidents, with headline counts up to 3M+ in catalog rows. This page maps every attested event through 2026 with internal links to canonical records.
Why Cisco breach history matters
Cisco operates in Technology (United States). Across indexed rows, recurring themes include ransomware and extortion, credential theft and social engineering, unverified actor or scraping claims. Understanding the chronological pattern helps security teams, customers, and regulators separate confirmed disclosures from forum marketing.
Full timeline through 2026
2026 — ShinyHunters extortion; ~3M Salesforce CRM records claimed (vishing / Aura / AWS narrative)
Unverified claim — treat actor counts cautiously. In early April 2026, the extortion group ShinyHunters publicly claimed theft of more than three million Salesforce CRM records from Cisco and posted demands with an early-April deadline in trade reporting. Journalists summarized an alleged multi-vector narrative—tying together voice phishing (vishing), Salesforce Aura exploitation, and unauthorized AWS access—while noting Cisco had previously disclosed a vishing-related CRM export affecting Cisco.com registrant profile data in August 2025. Industry coverage emphasi Exposed categories include CRM profile-style PII claimed (names, emails, phones, org metadata per prior Cisco CRM disclosures); broader internal assets alleged—verify against Cisco statements. BreachHistory cites approximately 3M+ affected records in this row. See the cisco 2026 record and canonical BreachHistory entry.
2022 — Yanluowang ransomware / source code
Cataloged incident. Attackers linked to Yanluowang ransomware gained access to Cisco's corporate network and stole source code and other files. Cisco stated no customer data was exfiltrated. Exposed categories include Source code, Credentials, Employee data. No attested victim count is published for this row yet. See the csca and canonical BreachHistory entry.
2022 — — Internal data
Cataloged incident. Hacked. Internal data. Exposed categories include Names, emails, addresses, and other PII. No attested victim count is published for this row yet. See the cisco2022 and canonical BreachHistory entry.
2016 — — Cisco: Cisco’s investigation found this to be the result…
Cataloged incident. Cisco’s investigation found this to be the result of an incorrect security settingfollowing system maintenance. The issue was immediately fixed and passwords to the site have been disabled. Because Cisco takes its responsibility to protect information seriously, and since many people use the same passwords on multiple websites, we wanted to alert you to this incident.As a precaution, users of Cisco’s Professional Careers Website will need to reset their passwords at their next login b Exposed categories include Personal information. No attested victim count is published for this row yet. See the cisco2016 and canonical BreachHistory entry.
2012 — — Cisco: Cisco's service provider Ernst & Young experienced…
Cataloged incident. Cisco's service provider Ernst & Young experienced a breach involving the information of current and former Cisco employees on March 26. On March 28, Cisco learned that a laptop with employee names, Social Security numbers, addresses, and the stock administration information of a select few had been stolen from an Ernst & Young employee's home. Exposed categories include Personal information. No attested victim count is published for this row yet. See the cisco2012 and canonical BreachHistory entry.
2010 — — Cisco: Someone hacked the list of attendees for the recent…
Cataloged incident. Someone hacked the list of attendees for the recent Cisco Live 2010 users' conference, a security breach that led Cisco to notify the customers as well as a broader group who have dealings with the company. A vendor told Cisco that someone had made an unexpected attempt to access attendee information through ciscolive2010.com, the event Web site. That lead to the general notification that Cisco sent to attendees and others who had been invited but did not attend. According to Cisco, details abou Exposed categories include Personal information. No attested victim count is published for this row yet. See the cisco2010 and canonical BreachHistory entry.
Patterns and analysis
- Ransomware and extortion — appears across multiple Cisco catalog entries; prioritize controls that address this class of failure.
- Credential theft and social engineering — appears across multiple Cisco catalog entries; prioritize controls that address this class of failure.
- Unverified actor or scraping claims — appears across multiple Cisco catalog entries; prioritize controls that address this class of failure.
- Record-count hygiene — BreachHistory indexes actor-cited figures separately from company-confirmed totals; read each row's technicalWriteup before treating counts as fact.
- 2026 monitoring — New disclosures roll into this timeline as they are verified or labeled unverified per catalog policy.
What to do if you may be affected
- Step 1: Enable phishing-resistant MFA on every account tied to this brand.
- Step 2: Use unique passwords and a password manager—breach rows often involve credential reuse.
- Step 3: Monitor official company breach notices and regulator filings, not dark-web downloads.
- Step 4: Review OAuth app permissions and revoke unused third-party integrations.
- Step 5: Bookmark the Cisco company page for new 2026+ disclosures.
Canonical BreachHistory hub
Explore every indexed row: breachhistory.com/cisco · Latest: cisco2026.
Sources: BreachHistory catalog (6 rows for Cisco), company and regulator disclosures cited in individual breach records.