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Trend Micro Employee Stole Customer Data to Help Scammers

About 70,000 Trend Micro home security solution customers had their personal data exposed in the insider attack, which was sourced back to a rogue employee who supplied customer information to criminals.

 & Michael Kan Principal Reporter

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A rogue employee at Trend Micro was caught helping criminals scam company customers through a fake tech support scheme.

The employee supplied names, email addresses, phone numbers, and customer support ticket numbers to the scammers, who used the information to call customers while pretending to be Trend Micro support staff.

About 70,000 users of the company's home security solution had their personal data exposed in the breach, the antivirus company told PCMag.

"We took swift action to contain the situation, including immediately disabling the unauthorized account access and terminating the employee in question, and we are continuing to work with law enforcement on an ongoing investigation," Trend Micro said in a Wednesday blog post.

So far, the company is still determining what the criminals were after. But tech support scams often try to charge victims for unnecessary IT services.

The company became aware of the scam in early August after receiving complaints from customers. It was only at end of last month when Trend Micro concluded the scam originated from a rogue employee, who was supplying an unknown third party with the customer information.

The unnamed employee "used fraudulent means" to gain access to a Trend Micro support database as part of a premeditated attack, the company added. However, the investigation has uncovered no evidence that payment card or financial information was exposed in the breach.

"Our investigation further shows that the criminals were only targeting English-speaking customers, and we have only seen data accessed in predominantly English-speaking countries," the company added. No government or enterprise customers were hit.

Trend Micro says it's already notified users who had their data exposed. If you encountered the scam, you can contact the company's customer support portal for assistance.

The incident shows that even an antivirus company isn't immune to the insider threat, in which an employee goes rogue. Other companies such as Yahoo and AT&T have also experienced incidents with staffers abusing their access to break into people's email accounts or to help fraudsters.

About Our Expert

Michael Kan

Michael Kan

Principal Reporter

My Experience

I've been a journalist for over 15 years. I got my start as a schools and cities reporter in Kansas City and joined PCMag in 2017, where I cover satellite internet services, cybersecurity, PC hardware, and more. I'm currently based in San Francisco, but previously spent over five years in China, covering the country's technology sector.

Since 2020, I've covered the launch and explosive growth of SpaceX's Starlink satellite internet service, writing 600+ stories on availability and feature launches, but also the regulatory battles over the expansion of satellite constellations, fights with rival providers like AST SpaceMobile and Amazon, and the effort to expand into satellite-based mobile service. I've combed through FCC filings for the latest news and driven to remote corners of California to test Starlink's cellular service.

I also cover cyber threats, from ransomware gangs to the emergence of AI-based malware. In 2024 and 2025, the FTC forced Avast to pay consumers $16.5 million for secretly harvesting and selling their personal information to third-party clients, as revealed in my joint investigation with Motherboard.

I also cover the PC graphics card market. Pandemic-era shortages led me to camp out in front of a Best Buy to get an RTX 3000. I'm now following how the AI-driven memory shortage is impacting the entire consumer electronics market. I'm always eager to learn more, so please jump in the comments with feedback and send me tips.

The Best Tech I've Had:

  • My first video game console: a Nintendo Famicom
  • I loved my Sega Saturn despite PlayStation's popularity.
  • The iPod Video I received as a gift in college
  • Xbox 360 FTW
  • The Galaxy Nexus was the first smartphone I was proud to own.
  • The PC desktop I built in 2013, which still works to this day.

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