Telecommunications giant AT&T has announced that it has reset the passcodes of 7.6 million customers after discovering that compromised customer data was released on the dark web. The company stated that the data, which dates back to 2019 or earlier, does not include personal financial information or call history.
In addition to the 7.6 million customers, 65.4 million former account holders were also affected by the data breach. AT&T has assured customers that it is working with cybersecurity experts to analyze the situation and is offering complimentary identity theft and credit monitoring services to those with compromised sensitive personal information.
TechCrunch, the first to report on the passcode reset, informed AT&T that the leaked data contained encrypted passcodes that could potentially be used to access customer accounts. The company has since reset the passcodes for those affected and directed customers to a site with instructions on how to reset them.
This incident marks the first time that AT&T has acknowledged that leaked data belongs to its customers, following a hacker’s claim of stealing 73 million AT&T customer records three years ago. AT&T has stated that it is unsure whether the leaked data originated from the company or one of its vendors and has no evidence of unauthorized access to its systems resulting in the theft of the data set.
