By Julie Clover
AT&T is alerting customers and former customers this week to a major data breach, and is sending emails and password resets to prevent unauthorized account access.
7.6 million customers and 65.4 million former customers had their passwords stolen and sensitive data leaked. AT&T says there was no unauthorized access to its systems that resulted in the data set being stolen, and the information was obtained several years ago.
Back in 2021, a hacking group said it had stolen information on 70 million AT&T customers. At the time, AT&T said there was no hack and the company still insists the data did not come from its systems. The leaked customer information includes names, addresses, dates of birth, AT&T account numbers, phone numbers, email addresses and Social Security numbers, and passwords.
The data was not made public until March 2024, but now, now that it is in effect, AT&T has initiated a password reset and says it is working with outside cybersecurity experts to further analyze the situation.
The company says the data breach does not include financial information or call history, and it will provide free identity theft and credit monitoring services for those whose personal information has been compromised.
AT&T has determined that the published dataset contained fields specific to AT&T data. in the dark web. Although AT&T has made this decision, it is not yet known whether the data in these fields came from AT&T or one of its suppliers.
For the remainder of the data set, which includes personal information such as Social Security numbers, the data source is still being evaluated. Based on our preliminary analysis, the dataset dates back to 2019 or earlier and affects approximately 7.6 million current AT&T account holders and 65.4 million former account holders. At this time, AT&T has no evidence of unauthorized access to its systems resulting in the data set being stolen.
Affected current and former customers will receive a letter or email from AT&T.
Impacted current and former customers will receive a letter or email from AT&T.
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