Massive AT&T Data Breach Affects 109 Million Customers

AT&T announced a significant data breach impacting 109 million customer accounts. The breach, occurring in April 2023, involves call and text records from 2022. The FBI is investigating, and at least one person has been arrested. The compromised data does not include call/text content or personal identifiers like social security numbers.

AT&T reported a massive hacking incident on Friday, revealing that data from approximately 109 million customer accounts, including call and text records from 2022, was illegally accessed and downloaded in April. The FBI is actively investigating the breach, and one suspect has already been detained. The stolen data does not encompass the content of calls or texts, nor does it include personal information such as social security numbers.

This breach follows a significant ransomware attack on UnitedHealth Group's Change Healthcare unit in February, which compromised the private data of an estimated third of the U.S. population. AT&T disclosed that the compromised files contain records of customer interactions from May to October 2022 and include AT&T's cellular and landline users, as well as customers of mobile virtual network operators using AT&T's network.

AT&T's stock fell by 1.2% in early trading following the disclosure, which was initially delayed at the request of the Justice Department. The Federal Communications Commission is also conducting an independent investigation. AT&T confirmed that the unauthorized access occurred between April 14 and 25 and has since been blocked. Although AT&T stated that it does not believe the data is publicly available, it had previously investigated a separate data set released on the dark web in March, affecting millions of current and past account holders.