AT&T Says Data From 73 Million Customers Has Leaked Onto the Dark Web

Personal data from 73 million AT&T customers has leaked onto the dark web, reports CNN — both current and former customers.

AT&T has launched an investigation into the source of the data leak...


In a news release Saturday morning, the telecommunications giant said the data was 'released on the dark web approximately two weeks ago,' and contains information such as account holders' Social Security numbers. ['The information varied by customer and account,' AT&T said in a statement, ' but may have included full name, email address, mailing address, phone number, social security number, date of birth, AT&T account number and passcode.']

'It is not yet known whether the data... originated from AT&T or one of its vendors,' the company added. 'Currently, AT&T does not have evidence of unauthorized access to its systems resulting in exfiltration of the data set.'

The data seems to have been from 2019 or earlier. The leak does not appear to contain financial information or specifics about call history, according to AT&T. The company said the leak shows approximately 7.6 million current account holders and 65.4 million former account holders were affected.

CNN says the first reports of the leak came two weeks ago from a social media account claiming 'the largest collection of malware source code, samples, and papers. Reached for a comment by CNN, AT&T had said at the time that 'We have no indications of a compromise of our systems.'

AT&T's web site now includes a special page with an FAQ — and the tagline that announces 'We take cybersecurity very seriously...'

'It has come to our attention that a number of AT&T passcodes have been compromised...'

The page points out that AT&T has already reset the passcodes of 'all 7.6 million impacted customers.' It's only further down in the FAQ that they acknowledge that the breach 'appears to be from 2019 or earlier, impacting approximately 7.6 million current AT&T account holders and 65.4 million former account holders.'

Our internal teams are working with external cybersecurity experts to analyze the situation... We encourage customers to remain vigilant by monitoring account activity and credit reports. You can set up free fraud alerts from nationwide credit bureaus — Equifax, Experian, and TransUnion. You can also request and review your free credit report at any time via Freecreditreport.com...
We will reach out by mail or email to individuals with compromised sensitive personal information and offering complimentary identity theft and credit monitoring services... If your information was impacted, you will be receiving an email or letter from us explaining the incident, what information was compromised, and what we are doing for you in response.

Read more of this story at Slashdot.