AT&T, the largest telco in the United States, has informed state authorities and regulators about a data breach which leaked customers’ full name, email address, mailing address, dates of birth, phone numbers and Social Security numbers online.
The company claims that the compromised customer data was from mid-2019 and earlier. Furthermore, it was stated that the documents included accurate information on over 7.9 million active customers.
AT&T estimated that over 65 million former customers were affected by the data leak, and it confirmed that the information belonged to both current and previous customers.
According to the AT&T website, the 73 million impacted consumers were made up of 65.4 million former and 7.6 million present users. The company has mailed notifications to both current and past customers, and reset the PINs on all active accounts.
READ ALSO:AT&T moves to reset account passwords after massive data leak
Representatives of AT&T have also not provided an explanation for why the disclosure on their website lists 73 million affected people but the letter submitted to the Maine AG cites 51.2 million.
Companies are required to notify state attorneys general of incidents affecting a substantial number of individuals under state data breach reporting regulations.
Even though AT&T hasn’t yet determined where the breach originated, the corporation has informed impacted consumers that it is providing identity theft and credit monitoring via a notice filed in Maine.
Join the conversation
Support Ripples Nigeria, hold up solutions journalism
Balanced, fearless journalism driven by data comes at huge financial costs.
As a media platform, we hold leadership accountable and will not trade the right to press freedom and free speech for a piece of cake.
If you like what we do, and are ready to uphold solutions journalism, kindly donate to the Ripples Nigeria cause.
Your support would help to ensure that citizens and institutions continue to have free access to credible and reliable information for societal development.
