Posted on 07/12/24
| News Source: FOX45
The call and text message records of "nearly all" AT&T cellphone customers from mid-to-late 2022 have been exposed in a massive data breach, the company said Friday.
AT&T said the breach was discovered in April when customer data was illegally downloaded from a third-party cloud platform.
"The compromised data includes files containing AT&T records of calls and texts of nearly all of AT&T’s cellular customers, customers of mobile virtual network operators (MVNOs) using AT&T’s wireless network, as well as AT&T’s landline customers who interacted with those cellular numbers between May 1, 2022 - October 31, 2022," according to a news release. "The compromised data also includes records from January 2, 2023, for a very small number of customers."
The company stated that customer names were not exposed during the breach but did acknowledge that publicly available online tools can still be used to find the names associated with a specific telephone number.
Additionally, AT&T said the data does not contain the content of calls or texts and personal information such as Social Security numbers or dates of birth.
AT&T said an investigation was launched with leading cybersecurity experts and steps were taken to close off the illegal access point. At least one person has been apprehended in the crime, according to the company.
"At this time, we do not believe that the data is publicly available," AT&T said. "We sincerely regret this incident occurred and remain committed to protecting the information in our care."