AT&T Customer Information Leaked to 'Dark Web' in Massive Data Hack, Millions Affected The telecommunications company confirmed the leak over the weekend.
By Emily Rella •
Current and former AT&T customers beware.
The mobile and internet service provider confirmed over the weekend the company suffered from a massive data breach that may have leaked the personal information of an estimated 7.6 million current AT&T customers and 65.4 million former customers, totaling 73 million users affected.
AT&T said that, roughly two weeks ago, the data set was leaked to the "dark web." It's unclear if the leak originated from AT&T or a third-party vendor.
Related: 'I Want a Free Month': Thousands of Customers Furious at AT&T After Widespread Outages
Compromised data may include social security numbers, full names, phone numbers, AT&T account information (numbers and passcodes), and email and mailing addresses.
"Currently, AT&T does not have evidence of unauthorized access to its systems resulting in exfiltration of the data set. The company is communicating proactively with those impacted and will be offering credit monitoring at our expense where applicable," the company said in a release. "As of today, this incident has not had a material impact on AT&T's operations."
The company also clarified that the data "appears" to be from those who created their accounts in 2019 or earlier.
News of the leak was originally posted on X by tech account @vx-underground on March 17, which claimed that "the stolen data is legitimate" and was leaked onto dark web platform Breached.
Today 70,000,000+ records from an unspecified division of AT&T were leaked onto Breached. No information is available to indicate whether it is a 3rd party compromise, or which 'division' this data is from.
— vx-underground (@vxunderground) March 17, 2024
Regardless, upon review, we can confirm the stolen data is legitimate.
Earlier this year, in February, AT&T suffered a mass outage that affected roughly 75% of the company's total customers. CEO John Stankey confirmed that customers who were "most affected" by the service disruption will receive a $5 credit to their account.
Related: Maine Hacked in Data Breach, 1.3 Million Residents At Risk
"Moments like these are a test of resilience," Stankey wrote at the time in an internal memo. "This is not our first network outage, and it won't be our last – unfortunately, it's the reality of our business. What matters most is how we react, adapt, and improve to deliver the service our customers need and expect."
AT&T was down over 10.5% year over year as of Monday morning.
