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posted by janrinok on Tuesday April 02 2024, @06:33AM   Printer-friendly
from the please-reset-my-social-security-number dept.

AT&T Says Data From 73 Million Current, Former Account Holders Leaked

AT&T says data from 73 million current, former account holders leaked:

AT&T notifies users of data breach and resets millions of passcodes:

Inside the Massive Alleged AT&T Data Breach:

AT&T said it has begun notifying millions of customers about the theft of personal data recently discovered online.

The telecommunications giant said Saturday that a dataset found on the "dark web" contains information such as Social Security numbers for about 7.6 million current AT&T account holders and 65.4 million former account holders.

The company said it has already reset the passcodes of current users and will be communicating with account holders whose sensitive personal information was compromised.

It is not known if the data "originated from AT&T or one of its vendors," the company said in a statement. The compromised data is from 2019 or earlier and does not appear to include financial information or call history, it said. In addition to passcodes and Social Security numbers, it may include email and mailing addresses, phone numbers and birth dates.

While the data surfaced on a hacking forum nearly two weeks ago, it closely resembles a similar data breach that surfaced in 2021 but which AT&T never acknowledged, said cybersecurity researcher Troy Hunt.

"If they assess this and they made the wrong call on it, and we've had a course of years pass without them being able to notify impacted customers," then it's likely the company will soon face class action lawsuits, said Hunt, founder of an Australia-based website for warning people when their personal information has been exposed.


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  • (Score: 3, Insightful) by sjames on Tuesday April 02 2024, @05:53PM

    by sjames (2882) on Tuesday April 02 2024, @05:53PM (#1351384) Journal

    It's time to take "identity theft" out back and shoot it.

    There is no such thing as identity theft really. Some bank handed a wad of cash to J. Random Fraudster based on information that can be found everywhere and anywhere. Not my problem, not my debt. Attempting to collect it from me should be counted as fraud. I do not owe them money, I do not owe them my time or energy to help solve their little problem. I had nothing to do with it. Reporting it as adverse information about my credit worthiness should be libel. End of story.

    Credit agencies better figure out how to separate the wheat from the chaff, go into a new line of work, or be prosecuted as a criminal enterprise (what else do you call a business that makes money by committing mass libel?).

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