AT&T denies 70 million user records were stolen from its servers
AT&T denies 70 million user records were stolen from its servers
Updated with comment from AT&T.
A well-known hacker (or hackers) says they've stolen the personal data of lxx meg AT&T customers, including names, addresses, Social Security numbers, phone numbers and dates of nascency.
In a statement to Bleeping Estimator, however, AT&T said that information technology had looked into the claim and ended that the data "does not appear to take come from our systems."
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ShinyHunters, the hacker(s) auctioning the information online, insists that the data is the real thing.
"It doesn't surprise me," ShinyHunters told RestorePrivacy.com. "I think they will keep denying until I leak everything."
If the information is real — and information technology could still exist real even if it didn't come from AT&T'due south servers — and so those 70 million people are in dire danger of identity theft.
The stolen personal information is all an identity thief would need to open up accounts in other people'southward names, pose as them in chore applications, or become identification documents such as driver's licenses.
RestorePrivacy said at to the lowest degree some of the data samples they had seen appeared to be existent, and an unnamed security adept told Bleeping Computer the same.
This news comes just a few days afterward the revelation of a data breach at rival phone company T-Mobile, which compromised the names, addresses, dates of nascence and Social Security numbers of at to the lowest degree 48 million people. T-Mobile has confirmed the incident.
Become ready to do these things
Regarding the supposed AT&T breach, we would normally advise anyone affected by such a serious incident to put fraud alerts on their files with the Big Three credit-reporting agencies Equifax, Experian and TransUnion.
We'd also ask affected individuals to consider instituting credit freezes with the Big 3, although doing so tin can complicate getting a loan or opening new payment accounts.
If AT&T confirms a breach of its systems, it will offer identity theft protection to affected users. If y'all're one of those users, have up the company on its offer.
Only because we don't yet know whether this claim of an AT&T data breach is valid, it might exist premature to act without farther information.
Apparent allegations
ShinyHunters' standard fashion of functioning is to steal data and offer to sell information technology in cybercriminal marketplaces. If there are no takers, then ShinyHunters posts the information online for complimentary.
In the by couple of years, he, she or they have broken into databases belonging to at least twoscore companies, although few are household names.
ShinyHunters has implied that the breached companies can sometimes buy the information dorsum, and indeed they told RestorePrivacy that they were willing to come to such an "organisation" with AT&T.
More than importantly, ShinyHunters' claims of information theft most ever turn out to be true. AT&T customers should hope this claim turns out not to be.
Tom's Guide has reached out to AT&T for annotate and description, and we will update this story when we receive a reply.
Update: AT&T responds
AT&T responded to our query with the same statement that was given to Bleeping Computer:
"Based on our investigation, the information that appeared in an cyberspace chat room does not announced to have come up from our systems."
Our AT&T contact added that the company could not speculate on where the data had come from, or whether it was real.
Source: https://www.tomsguide.com/news/possible-att-data-breach
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