WASHINGTON — A 2022 security breach compromised the data of "nearly all" of AT&T's cell phone customers, the company revealed on Friday.
Approximately 109 million customer accounts were impacted, according to AT&T, which said that it currently doesn’t believe that the leaked data is publicly available.
The telecommunications giant determined that the compromised data includes AT&T records of calls and texts between May 1, 2022 and Oct. 31, 2022. The data was illegally downloaded from AT&T's workspace on a third-party cloud company's platform.
However, the data doesn't include the content of those calls or texts, or key personal information like Social Security numbers.
Who was affected by AT&T data breach?
AT&T says everyone who was affected by the data breach will be contacted by text, e-mail or U.S. mail.
Those with active AT&T service and accounts can also check online whether they were impacted.
Former customers who had service between May 2022 and Nov. 2022 and were impacted will receive a notification that includes their account number and a case number.
AT&T has also opened an online process where current and former customers can request the phone numbers of their calls and texts exposed in the downloaded data.
What to do if you were affected by AT&T's data breach
While AT&T stressed that it doesn't believe the customer data is publicly available, it provided tips for customers to protect themselves from phishing and other online fraud:
- Only open text messages from people that you know and trust.
- Don’t reply to a text from an unknown sender with personal details.
- Go directly to a company’s website. Don’t use links included in a text message. Scammers can build fake websites using forged company logos, signatures, and styles.
- Make sure a website is secure by looking for the “s” after the http in the address. You can also look for a lock icon at the bottom of a webpage.
If you are a target of fraud on your AT&T cell phone number, you should report it to the company's Fraud team.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
