The February 2024 Black Out and What AT&T Hasn't Been Saying

 

            NBCDFW's Matt O'Brain reports that AT&T has made public information of a dataset found on the dark web containing information of 7.6 million current account holders as well as 65.4 million previous account holders. Whether the breach "originated from AT&T or one of its vendors" is still unknown. 

 

            AT&T states that the data found of the dark web contains information from 2019 and prior. Also that the data compromised is not uniform. Accounts vary in what information had been leaked from full names, email addresses, mailing addressing, date of birth and Social Security numbers. AT&T stated that financial information and call history does not seem to be amongst the leaked information. As if it alleviates that amount of information already compromised.  

 

            AT&T has sent out emails and letters directly to customers who have been effected by this breach and is launching an investigation with internal and external cybersecurity experts regarding the matter. The company has said to send passcode resets to current customers as well as pay for credit monitoring services such as Experian to help customers verify is they have been effected. 

 

    This breach seems to stem from a breach in 2021 that AT&T ignored and paid no attention to regardless is pressure from the general public. The Federal Bureau of Investigation has opened up an investigation into the nation wide black out of service to all AT&T customers earlier this year in February 2024. It seems that the involvement of the FBI may have encourage AT&T to clean out the skeletons in their closet before they are revealed from other sources. If this breach is in fact the same breach rumored in 2021 AT&T maybe facing a class action law suit for throwing it in the back burner and not doing what needed to be done to protect tens of millions of customers for almost three years now.

 

   The company was initially alerted of the potential leak on March 17, 2024 by X account vx-underground. At that time AT&T reported to CNN "We have no indications of a compromise to our systems. We determined in 2021 that the information offered on this online forum did not appear to have come from our systems. We believe and are working to confirm that the data set discussed today is the same dataset that has been recycled several times on the forum."

 

    Let's all hope that AT&T isn't doing just enough to protect itself and not the informational well-being of the millions of customers who have been financially supporting this company for so many decades.