AT&T admits data breach affecting 70 million customers

AT&TTelecom giant based in New Yorkhas announced an investigation into a data breach affecting more than 70 million Both current and former customers whose personal information has been exposed on the dark web. According to the statement issued by the company on Saturday, 7.6 million and current account holders 65.4 million The incident, which occurred about two weeks ago and involves several former customers, has so far had no “material” impact on the company’s operations.

Depending on the case, the numbers in the compromised data set include social SecurityFull name, email and physical address, phone number, date of birth, as well as account number and access code AT&T, The company has not yet publicly identified the source of the leak. AT&T has revealed that, based on preliminary analysis, the data appears to be from 2019 or earlier, and has begun the process of contacting 7.6 million customers affected To reset their access codes, providing them with identification and credit monitoring services at no cost.

The company said there is no evidence of unauthorized access to its systems as a result of the incident and it is not yet known whether the data came from AT&T or any of its providers.

External cyber security experts have been hired to assist in the investigation. In the meantime, affected consumers have been advised to change their passwords, monitor other accounts and consider freezing their credit due to the exposed Social Security numbers. AT&T has been the subject of several data breaches over the years, highlighted by an incident March 2023 with 9 million mobile phone customers and others August 2021However the latter is not related to the current difference.

Security of telecom customer data usa This is a matter of constant concern, similar incidents are affecting T Mobile And Verizon recently. Federal Communications Commission (FCC) Last December it updated its rules on data breach notification, seeking to improve the security of sensitive customer information.

Last February, AT&T apologized to thousands of users affected by a service interruption that affected thousands in Atlanta, Los Angeles and New York and was caused by a technical issue while the company expanded its network. Was trying to do. ,

The problem was concentrated in several cities, including Dallas, Houston, Chicago, Atlanta and Miami.

DownDetector also indicated that T-Mobile, Verizon and Cricket Wireless users were reporting fewer outages.

However, T-Mobile said in a statement that its network was “operating normally” and that the report likely “reflects the challenges our customers are facing when trying to connect with users on other networks.” “