Home > News

Nearly All AT&T Customers Hit with Data Breach

By Laura Tucker
Att Data Breach Featured

Data breaches seem to be a dime a dozen these days, but sometimes they really stand out. One of those times is a data breach that hit nearly all AT&T customers, exposing their text and call history.

AT&T Learned of Breach in April

Nearly all AT&T customers have been affected by this data breach, which means unauthorized access to their personal information has occurred. This breach has exposed sensitive data, including text and call history, making it a significant privacy concern.

AT&T became aware of the breach in April, but the full extent of the compromised data is still being assessed. The breach took place between May 2022 and October 2022 and included both cellular and landline AT&T customers – around 110 million customers in all.

Att Data= Breach Cybercriminal
Image source: Unsplash

The data breached was from calls and text messages – not the content, but the records of the calls and texts. Some of the records also included cell site identification numbers. This could help someone determine where the call or text message originated.

The company is currently investigating the incident and working to enhance its security measures to prevent future breaches. The records were stolen from cloud storage company Snowflake. Ticketmaster and LendingTree subsidiary QuoteWizard also recently had data stolen from Snowflake.

AT&T, the FBI, and Department of Justice are working together to investigate the AT&T case. Check out these deep web scanners that can help you check for personal data breaches.

Data Breach Aftermath

Many customers have expressed frustration and concern over the breach. The exposure of such personal information has led to a loss of trust in AT&T’s ability to safeguard their data. Social media platforms and forums are filled with complaints and calls for the company to be held accountable.

In response to the breach, AT&T has initiated several steps:

  • Investigation: a thorough investigation is underway to determine how the breach occurred and the scope of the compromised data.
  • Enhanced Security: the company is working to strengthen its cybersecurity measures to prevent future incidents.
  • Customer Support: AT&T has set up dedicated support lines to assist affected customers and provide guidance on protecting their personal information.
Att Data Breach Phishing
Image source: Unsplash

Affected customers are advised to take several precautions:

  • Monitor accounts: regularly check phone and bank accounts for any suspicious activity.
  • Change passwords: update passwords for your AT&T account and any other accounts that may use the same credentials.
  • Be wary of phishing: be cautious of phishing attacks, emails or messages asking for personal information, as attackers may use the breached data for phishing attempts.

Data breaches are becoming increasingly common, but the scale of this incident with AT&T highlights the importance of robust cybersecurity measures. It serves as a reminder to both companies and individuals to prioritize data protection and stay vigilant against potential threats.

Is your cellular service not working on your iPhone or iPad? Learn how to troubleshoot the problem.

Image credit: Unsplash

Subscribe to our newsletter!

Our latest tutorials delivered straight to your inbox

Laura Tucker Avatar
Laura Tucker
Laura has spent more than 20 years writing news, reviews, and op-eds, with the majority of those years as an editor as well. She has exclusively used Apple products for the past 35 years. In addition to writing and editing at MTE, she also runs the site’s sponsored review program.

Read next

Octopuses possess roughly 500 million neurons distributed across their body, with two-thirds located in their arms rather than their central brain, meaning each arm can taste, problem-solve, and react to stimuli independently of whatever the octopus is otherwise paying attention to.
Explore the historic Roman bridge in lush Salamanca, Spain captured beautifully in daylight.
The Roman aqueduct at Segovia, built around the first century AD without mortar, still carried water into the 1970s, its 167 granite arches held together by nothing but the precise weight distribution of stones cut to fit each other within fractions of a millimeter.
Close-up of a smartphone highlighting its modern design on a dark background.
The original iPhone Steve Jobs unveiled in January 2007 could not record video, could not copy and paste text, could not run a single third-party app, and could only reach the internet over 2G — and Jobs spent ninety minutes on stage at Macworld arguing, one missing feature at a time, that every absence was actually a design decision.
When the SS Great Eastern laid the first working transatlantic telegraph cable in 1866, a message that had taken ten days by steamship suddenly crossed the ocean in minutes, and the financial markets of London and New York were forced, within a single trading week, to invent the modern concept of synchronised global price.
From below of blue starry sky over radio telescope and trees with leaves
The Big Ear telescope was scanning at 1420.4056 megahertz on the night of 15 August 1977, the exact frequency at which hydrogen atoms vibrate across the universe, because Giuseppe Cocconi and Philip Morrison had argued years earlier that any species trying to be found would broadcast on that channel — and then, for 72 seconds, something did.
When Cingular chief Stan Sigman backed the original iPhone before its 2007 unveiling, he accepted terms American carriers usually refused: no logo on the device, no control over its software, no preloaded apps, and a share of monthly subscriber revenue flowing back to Apple, after signing on without seeing a prototype
In 2016, archaeologists dated two rings of snapped stalagmites in France’s Bruniquel Cave to 176,500 years ago, evidence that Neanderthals had walked 336 metres into darkness with fire and built architecture deep underground long before modern humans reached Europe
Otto von Bismarck was 74 when Germany adopted the world’s first national old-age social insurance program in 1889, setting the pension age at 70 after years of fighting socialists with bans, laws, and a promise few workers would live long enough to use