AT&T Inc. has revealed a significant data breach, with personal information from approximately 7.6 million current account holders and 65.4 million former customers found circulating on the dark web.
The leaked data, which surfaced around two weeks ago, comprises sensitive details such as Social Security numbers and dates back to 2019 or earlier, as disclosed by the company in a statement issued on Saturday. While investigations are ongoing to determine the exact source of the breach, AT&T has indicated uncertainty whether the data originated from within the company or an external vendor.
Despite the breach, AT&T has assured customers that there is no evidence of unauthorized access to its systems thus far. Nevertheless, as a precautionary measure, the company has reset passwords for millions of customer accounts impacted by the leak.
In response to the breach, AT&T is taking proactive steps to mitigate the impact on affected individuals, including communication efforts to notify those impacted and offering credit monitoring services at the company’s expense where applicable.
As one of the largest retail wireless carriers in the United States, AT&T’s data breach underscores the pervasive cybersecurity challenges faced by major corporations. This incident follows a widespread outage experienced by AT&T in February, prompting scrutiny from federal authorities.
The company’s commitment to addressing the breach and safeguarding customer data remains paramount as it navigates the aftermath of this significant security incident.
