A 2022 security breach compromised the data of nearly all AT&T’s cellular and landline customers. Learn about the scope of the breach, its impact, and AT&T’s response.
Bollywood Fever: A significant security breach in 2022 has compromised the data of nearly all of AT&T’s cellular customers, including those using mobile virtual network operators (MVNOs) on AT&T’s wireless network, as well as its landline customers who interacted with these cellular numbers.
The company’s investigation revealed that the compromised data includes records of calls and texts between May 1, 2022, and October 31, 2022. With over 100 million customers in the U.S. and almost 2.5 million business accounts, the breach affects a vast number of users.
AT&T announced on Friday that it has launched an investigation and engaged cybersecurity experts to determine the nature and scope of the breach. “The data does not contain the content of calls or texts, personal information such as Social Security numbers, dates of birth, or other personally identifiable information,” AT&T stated.
The compromised data also excludes some typical usage details, like the timestamps of calls or texts, and does not include customer names. However, AT&T acknowledged that publicly available online tools could potentially be used to find the name associated with a specific telephone number.
Currently, AT&T believes the data is not publicly available. The compromised records also include some data from January 2, 2023, for a small number of customers, identifying the telephone numbers interacted with during these periods. For some records, one or more cell site identification numbers associated with the interactions are also included.
The company is cooperating with law enforcement on the incident, and at least one person has been apprehended so far.
This breach is not the first for AT&T this year. In March, the company revealed that a dataset found on the dark web contained information such as Social Security numbers for about 7.6 million current AT&T account holders and 65.4 million former account holders. In response, AT&T reset the passcodes of current users and communicated with those whose sensitive personal information was compromised.
Shares of AT&T Inc., based in Dallas, fell more than 2% before the markets opened on Friday.
Source: APNews
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