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Are you on AT&T? Hackers now know who you called or texted
- AT&T has suffered a major data breach that affects nearly all customers.
- The breach occurred this April and leaked call and text records of about 109 million customer accounts.
- AT&T has since closed the point of access and says that it does not believe the data is publicly available.
AT&T today confirmed a massive breach that affects nearly all of its users. The carrier says that hackers managed to copy customer data, including call records and texts, from 2022 to a third-party cloud platform this April.
AT&T’s internal investigation has revealed that the compromised data includes call records and texts of nearly all of its cellular customers, customers of mobile virtual network operators (MVNOs) using AT&T’s wireless network, and AT&T’s landline customers who interacted with those customers between May 1, 2022 – October 31, 2022. The leak also includes records from January 2, 2023, but for a very small number of customers.
In a support article highlighting the incident, AT&T says that the leaked data also identifies the phone numbers with which AT&T numbers interacted during said period. In addition, it includes counts of those calls or texts, along with total call durations for specific days or months.
The carrier has clarified that the leaked data does not include the contents of any calls or texts, and it does not have the time stamps for the calls or texts. It does not reveal personal information, such as customer names, Social Security numbers, or dates of birth, either. However, it adds that the malefactors could use publicly available tools to find names associated with the leaked phone numbers.
Although AT&T’s official press release does not clarify the extent of the data breach, a report from Reuters reveals that it affects around 109 million customer accounts. The report adds that AT&T first learned of the breach on April 19, and its investigation revealed that hackers downloaded the data between April 14 and April 25.
AT&T has since closed the point of access and has taken additional cybersecurity measures to protect customer data. The carrier is reaching out to affected customers and has provided resources to help customers get the phone numbers of calls and texts in the leaked data. It has also added that it does not believe the leaked data is publicly available.