AT&T customer discusses safety measures following data breach
NEW ORLEANS (WGNO) — Concern is rising among AT&T customers who may be victims of a data breach.
AT&T confirmed in a press release that a dataset found on the dark web contained social security numbers and passcodes for nearly 8 million current account holders and about 65 million former account holders.
Customers were alerted on March 30.
“At that point, I didn’t think of it being a big deal because there were other incidents over the last few months where Louisiana [Office of Motor Vehicles] had a breach, and my mortgage company had a breach,” the AT&T customer said.
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Studies show data breaches continue to climb with a 20% increase from 2022 to 2023. Some believe it’s partially due to new types of ransomware attacks.
The customer says a couple of days after hearing from AT&T, he received a notification from LifeLock, the identity theft protection software.
“[It] said my information was on the dark web, which included my name, I believe phone number and social security number,” the customer said. “It was then I got concerned.”
AT&T proactively reset customers’ passcodes but also recommends customers monitor their account activity and credit reports.
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“I froze my credit with all three of my credit bureaus that keep your credit score on file and reached out to the loan companies that can give you loans because the first step of getting a loan is to check your credit,” the customer explained.
According to the press release, the data set that was released appears to be from 2019 or earlier, but it’s unclear at this time if the data originated from AT&T or one of its vendors.
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