April 10, 2024 at 10:44AM
AT&T notifies 51 million current and former customers of a data breach, exposing personal information in a hacking forum. Despite delay, AT&T confirmed the data’s origin and issued identity theft protection. Customers urged to monitor accounts. AT&T faces lawsuits for delay and risks of cyber attacks. The breach raises concerns about customer security.
From the meeting notes, it is evident that AT&T is sending data breach notifications to 51 million former and current customers after their personal data was exposed in a hacking forum. The company initially denied that the leaked data belonged to them but eventually confirmed its ownership. The exposed information includes personal details such as full name, email address, mailing address, phone number, social security number, date of birth, AT&T account number, and AT&T passcode, from June 2019 or earlier.
AT&T has been facing criticism for the delay in confirming the data breach and informing affected customers, as well as for not disclosing how the data was obtained. The company is offering one year of identity theft protection and credit monitoring services to affected individuals, and recipients are encouraged to monitor their accounts and credit reports for suspicious activity. AT&T is also facing multiple class-action lawsuits as a result of this security lapse.
It is noted that the dataset has been leaked to the broader cybercrime community, significantly increasing the risk for former and current AT&T customers. Moreover, due to the five-year delay in confirming the data breach, cybercriminals have had ample opportunity to exploit the dataset and potentially launch targeted attacks against the affected individuals.