73M AT&T customers’ data leaked online

AT&T data breach overview: 

• Who: A hacker released around 73 million AT&T customers’ personal data nearly three years after claiming to have stolen it. 
• Why: The dataset includes names, home addresses, phone numbers, Social Security numbers and birthdates. 
• Where: The AT&T data breach affects consumers nationwide.

A hacker leaked around 73 million AT&T customers’ personal information nearly three years after claiming the theft.

The leaked dataset includes names, home addresses, phone numbers, Social Security numbers and birthdates, TechCrunch reports. AT&T maintains the customer data did not come from its systems, echoing claims it made in 2021. 

The hacker released only a small amount of the stolen customer data at the time of the alleged breach, according to TechCrunch, which reports the small sample size made it difficult to verify the authenticity of the incident. 

Outside source confirms leaked info’s accuracy

Troy Hunt of Have I Been Pwned, a data breach notification site, concludes the leaked data is authentic after speaking with AT&T customers who confirmed the records’ accuracy, TechCrunch says. 

“The forum this was posted to isn’t within the shady underbelly of a Tor hidden service,” Hunt writes. “It’s out there in plain sight on a public forum easily accessed by a normal web browser. And the data is real.” 

While AT&T has not said how the hacker obtained the information, Hunt says the data may have come from a third-party processor or another unrelated entity.

In March 2023, AT&T notified around 9 million individuals about a customer data breach it says exposed their first names, email addresses, wireless phone numbers and wireless account numbers. 

AT&T attributed the data breach to a hacking event it says a hacker carried out against one of its vendors in January 2023, while similarly maintaining its systems were not compromised during the incident. 

Have you been affected by the data breach? Let us know in the comments.

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