AT&T dark web data leak of over 70 million customers.

One of the nation’s leading telecommunications companies, AT&T, has been breached, with over 70 million customers data compromised. The company confirmed this news on Saturday, March 31, 2024.

What happened?

AT&T announced on Saturday that it is investigating a data breach involving the personal information of more than 70 million current and former customers leaked on the dark web. According to information about the breach on the company’s website, 7.6 million current account holders and 65.4 million former account holders have been impacted. An AT&T press release said the breach occurred about two weeks ago and that the incident has not yet had a “material impact” on its operations.

The company has so far not identified the source of the leak, at least not publicly.

The company said it is “reaching out to all 7.6 million impacted customers and have reset their passcodes,” via email or letter, and that it plans to communicate with both current and former account holders with compromised sensitive personal information. They are planning to offer “complimentary identity theft and credit monitoring services” to those affected by the breach.

External cybersecurity experts have been brought in to help investigate, it added.

AT&T Data Breach History:

AT&T has experienced multiple data breaches over the years.

In March 2023, for instance, the company notified 9 million wireless customers that their customer information had been accessed in a breach by a third-party marketing vendor.

In August 2023, in an incident AT&T said was not connected to the latest breach, a hacking group claimed it was selling data relating to more than 70 million AT&T customers. 

A 2023 report from cyber intelligence firm Cyble said that U.S. telecommunications companies are a lucrative target for hackers.

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