AT&T Data Breach Compromises 109 Million US Customer Accounts

Cyber security has always been a front runner of concern ever since the Internet became an everyday norm. Unfortunately, the threats continue for both consumers and businesses to build as technology grows.

AT&T announced on Friday, July 12, 2024 that the company suffered a large hacking incident in April which compromised the accounts of about 109 million customers, which contained records of calls and texts from 2022.

The US-based company said the FBI is currently investigating the situation and at least one person has been arrested in relation to this breach. Authorities say that the call logs were copied from its workspace on a third-party cloud platform and caused the significant breach of consumer records. The compromised data includes files of calls and texts of nearly all cellular and landline customers interacting with those numbers between May and October 2022. It does not include contain the content of calls or texts or personal information such as social security numbers.

The breach caused AT&T shares to drop nearly 1.2% in early trading. The FBI have not identified the suspects and the Federal Communications Commission is continuing to investigate. AT&T has apparently closed off the point of access to the hackers and does not believe the data is publicly available.

What Can You Do To Protect Yourself Personally Online?

There are some basic steps that you can take from a consumer standpoint to make it harder for hackers to access your information. And, if it does unfortunately happen, there are a few things you can do to minimize the effect.

• Use strong passwords. You want your password to be as hard to guess/crack as possible. Here are a few guidelines:
  • At least eight characters long
  • Includes a mix of letters, numbers, and special characters.
  • Don't use a password that you use over and over on multiple websites
  • Don't include easily accessible personal details about you such as your last name or birthday

• Keep software up to date. New threats are constantly occurring, so software companies are frequently patching their work with fixes to reduce vulnerabilities, along with improving performance.
• Enable multi-factor authentication (MFA), also known as two-factor authentication where able. This functionality requires multiple forms of verification to access an account, application, or network - such as a secondary email addresses, a phone number or authenticator app.
• Don't send sensitive information over email or text message. Information such as PII, credit card numbers, social security numbers, etc. should NEVER be send via those methods.
• Educate yourself and others (This is SO important!)

What Can I Do To Protect My Company's Cyber Security?

From a business standpoint, be sure that your staff is being vigilant when accessing information from your business computers.

• Provide regular training on cybersecurity topics
• Encourage your employees to properly report suspicious activity
• Remind staff to not click on links from unknown sources
• Implement access control so employees cannot reach specific websites on business computers
• Back up your data FREQUENTLY

A Managed Services Provider (MSP) such as Atlantic Technology Services can take the worry out of IT management for your company. Our sibling company, Fortifi Cyber Security, can help your organization protect itself against cyber threats with world-class, highly-affordable security services. Call our office today at 888-500-9111 or sign up for a free vulnerability test.