CPM Investigating AT&T Data Breach Affecting 73 Million Current and Former AT&T Customers
HAVE YOU RECEIVED A NOTICE FROM AT&T THAT YOUR PRIVATE INFORMATION WAS COMPROMISED IN A DATA BREACH?
You may be entitled to compensation from a class action lawsuit.
Cotchett, Pitre & McCarthy is investigating a massive data breach hidden for years and finally disclosed by AT&T. Hackers may have been circulating stolen AT&T customer data as far back as 2021. Criminal hackers that call themselves Shinyhunters were auctioning off an archive containing data on over 70 million AT&T accounts, including full names, email addresses, physical addresses, and at least in some cases, social security numbers and dates of birth.
AT&T denied that the information had come from its systems, or that it had suffered a breach. In March 2024, a hacker called MajorNelson circulated a 5GB archive that contained the same information. MajorNelson made the data freely available on a hacking forum, though AT&T wrongly asserted it was only available on the “Dark Web.” This distinction is important because Dark Web sites are generally criminally run and only accessible with specially designed browsers and applications. This information, however, was available on a normal website and thus exposed to anyone with internet access and a browser.
Despite ample evidence that the information was legitimate and sourced directly from AT&T, AT&T again denied that the data had come from its systems. But on March 30, 2024, the company changed its tune after a security researcher analyzed the leaked data and found users' AT&T passcodes in the archive, according to TechCrunch. AT&T reset the accounts of 7.6 million current users, requiring them to create new access credentials.
On March 30, 2024, AT&T finally admitted “Based on our preliminary analysis, the data set appears to be from 2019 or earlier, impacting approximately 7.6 million current AT&T account holders and 65.4 million former account holders.”
Companies like AT&T must do more to protect consumers’ valuable information. Consumers deserve to have their information protected and when mega corporations like AT&T fall short of their obligations, consumers are entitled to compensation. Cotchett, Pitre & McCarthy Partner, Thomas E. Loeser, is a former federal cyber-prosecutor specializing in hacking data breach cases. If you received notice of the AT&T breach, please contact us at (650) 697-6000, DataBreach@cpmlegal.com for your free, no-obligation consultation.
CASE UPDATE
CPM has filed two cases against AT&T:
Vita et al. v. AT&T, Inc. (N.D. California)
Garner et al. v. AT&T, Inc. (N.D. Texas)
MORE INFORMATION ABOUT THE AT&T DATA BREACH
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/att-data-breach-2024-cbs-news-explains/
https://www.foxnews.com/tech/att-data-leak-what-you-need-to-do-next