JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — About 73 million AT&T customers' personal information was stolen after a data breach occurred, as the telecommunications company said they found the data on the "dark web."
The breach affected account holders new and old, but mostly former account holders from 2019 or earlier were impacted. Depending on the account, passcodes, social security numbers, email and mailing addresses, phone numbers and date of births were exposed. Customers should have received an email or letter in the mail from AT&T if they were impacted.
It is unknown how the data leaked.
Jay Fowler, senior vice president of auditing and consultation for the Scarlett Group — an information technology firm in Florida, suggests changing one's password on every platform. That includes emails, social media profiles, subscriptions and streaming services. Fowler suggests using multi-factor authentication and avoid using the same password.
"Theoretically they can get into other services that you might be in," Fowler told First Coast News. "This is a pretty serious breach."
If one believes their social security number was compromised, they should call their bank and freeze their credit. AT&T said it would pay for credit monitoring services.
The telecommunications company said it has "launched a robust investigation" with internal and external cyber security experts into the breach.