AT&T has finally acknowledged a data breach that affected 73 million current and former customers. The breach occurred several years ago, but the company has repeatedly denied that the data leaked came from its systems. The company acknowledged the breach about two weeks after the attackers published the stolen data on the dark web. The carrier sent email notifications to affected customers.
AT&T confirms data breach affecting 73 million customers
In August 2021, a well-known attacker breached AT&T's security systems and claimed to have stolen the personal information of more than 70 million users. The samples leaked on the dark web contained a wide range of information about AT&T customers, including names, addresses, phone numbers, email IDs, social security numbers, and dates of birth. The hacker offered to sell the entire database to him for $1 million.
Despite the potential privacy and security risks to customers, AT&T denied being affected by the breach. There was no follow-up for more than two years, but last month another attacker shared the database for free on a hacking forum. Multiple sources independently verified that the database contained information about his AT&T customers, people with online AT&T accounts, or people previously associated with AT&T.
Two weeks later, the telecom giant officially acknowledged that the breach had affected its customers. In a statement to TechCrunch, AT&T said the breach affected 7.6 million current users and 65.4 million former users. The email sent to affected users states that the breach also compromised their account passcodes, which are typically four digits. The company reset the compromised passcode from its own end.
However, AT&T has not yet determined the cause of the breach. I don't know “whether the data in these areas is from his AT&T or from that vendor.” The company said there is “no evidence of unauthorized access to the system that would have led to the leakage of data sets.” Still, if he is a current or former AT&T user, you should always be vigilant and actively monitor your account activity and credit report.
AT&T offers free identity theft and credit monitoring services
AT&T said the leaked dataset dates back to before 2019 and does not include personal financial information or call history. Additionally, information varies by customer and account. The company is offering free identity theft and credit monitoring services to users whose sensitive personal information was compromised in this breach. AT&T has set up a support page with more information about the breach and steps to protect your account.
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April 1, 2024