AT&T data breach: Millions’ phone records are in danger!

AT&T suffered a massive data breach, affecting almost all of its customers. Cybercriminals compromised millions of phone records between May 2022 and October 2022. AT&T confirmed the breach and announced that it would notify approximately 110 million customers. So, what kind of data was stolen?

AT&T data breach: Phone records of 110 million customers compromised

Stolen data includes information such as phone numbers, who contacted whom, and call durations. While message and call contents are safe, this metadata and phone numbers are extremely valuable. The data breach affected not only AT&T customers, but also customers of other carriers using AT&T’s network.

AT&T learned of the breach on April 19 and discovered that cybercriminals had stolen data from cloud data giant Snowflake. What’s interesting is that these breaches occurred because Snowflake’s customers did not use multi-factor authentication. Snowflake has not mandated this security measure.

This breach is not limited to AT&T. It also affected other victims, such as Ticketmaster and QuoteWizard, a subsidiary of LendingTree. Cybersecurity firm Mandiant reported that a significant amount of data from approximately 165 Snowflake customers was stolen. The breach was attributed to a cybercriminal group called UNC5537, based in North America and Türkiye, seeking financial gain.

AT&T published a website with details for affected customers and filed a report with regulators. The FBI and the Department of Justice have twice delayed public notification due to potential risks to national security and public safety.

This incident was AT&T’s second major security incident this year. Previously, the company had reset account passwords after customers’ information and passwords were revealed on a cybercrime forum. AT&T is cooperating with law enforcement to catch the criminals behind the breach and has confirmed the arrest of at least one suspect. This breach once again demonstrates the importance of strong cybersecurity measures.

It is very important to be careful and use strong passwords to prevent such situations from happening to anyone. We’ll wait and see how AT&T resolves this breach and what support it offers to its customers. What are you thinking? You can share your opinions about this major data breach experienced by AT&T in the comments section below.