Over 9 Million AT&T Customers Exposed in Recent Cyber Attack
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- By Steven
- Published: Mar 13, 2023
- Last Updated: Mar 13, 2023
AT&T is a massive telecommunications company with its headquarters in Dallas, Texas. The company is known as the largest telecommunications company in the world according to its revenue, and it is the third-largest mobile phone service provider in the United States. The company recently suffered an attack that exposed some of its customer data to hackers and may have put customers at risk. The attack wasn't on AT&T directly but on one of the company's external marketing vendors instead.
How Did the Attack Occur?
We don't have all the specifics surrounding the AT&T data breach, but what we do know is that one of the company's marketing vendors was hit by an attack. The vendor is separate from AT&T as a company, but it had data about AT&T customers that was put at risk by the breach. Nearly 9 million customers were exposed to this breach, but the information leaked was not private information, fortunately. Most customers don't have a reason to be concerned about the information leaked at this time, but they should be concerned about the potential for more serious information to be stolen or leaked in the future.
What Information Was Viewed or Stolen?
Some customer network information was stolen during the AT&T Breach. Information such as the number of lines customers has, as well as which wireless rate plan they are using, was taken. No private or financial information was exposed in the attack. That means customers did not have their Social Security Numbers, credit card numbers, or bank account information exposed. This is good news for anyone worried about identity theft. The attackers did get customer names and email addresses, though, so it's important for any AT&T customers to watch for phishing attacks that may be incoming.
How Did Business Admit to the Breach?
AT&T made a report to federal law enforcement agencies to meet its requirements to the Federal Communications Commission. The report didn't have user specifics but informed the agency about which users were impacted and gave examples of the type of information that was stolen.
What Will Become of the Stolen Information?
The attackers will likely do whatever they can with the stolen information from AT&T. Since no account passwords, credit cards, Social Security numbers, or bank details were stolen, an outright attack isn't likely. Users should watch out for phishing attacks to avoid potential problems in the future. The hackers will do as much as they can to leverage the information they've gathered and use it in a harmful way.
What Should Affected Parties Do in the Aftermath of the Breach?
AT&T is advising its customers to ask to have their CPNI data sharing toggled off to prevent the information from being leaked again in the future. AT&T wasn't directly hacked, and instead, one of its vendors is at the point where information was lost. By keeping the data with AT&T itself and preventing it from being shared with external vendors, you can secure that information more.
