‘A serious issue;’ Millions of customers impacted after AT&T weekend data breach

OHIO — Several AT&T customers may be impacted after a massive data breach over the weekend.

>>RELATED: AT&T says a data breach leaked millions of customers’ information online. Were you affected?

The telecommunications giant said Saturday that a dataset found on the “dark web” contained information such as Social Security numbers for about 7.6 million current AT&T account holders and 65.4 million former account holders, the Associated Press reported.

Technology experts say past and present users should act now to protect their data.

“This is quite a serious issue,” said Glenn Gerstell, former NSA General Counsel.

The company said in a statement it is investigating how information from 73 million customers got onto the dark web and has notified those that have been affected.

>>RELATED: AT&T notifies users of data breach and resets millions of passcodes

“If you’re not notified, just don’t assume automatically that you’re safe,” said Gerstell. “You need to investigate this.”

The breach appears to involve data from 2019 or earlier and could include names, passwords, social security numbers, birthdates, and more.

“Once a bad guy has that, a criminal, has that information, perhaps they could pose as you and call up one of your bank accounts or health accounts claimed you lost your password and you reset it by validating their identity,” he explained.

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Gerstell says if anyone thinks they’ve been hacked, they should do the following:

• Reset your password.
• Ask a crediting agency to put a fraud alert on your account.
• Consider a credit freeze to block someone from opening a credit card in your name.

“Any hacker who is both skilled enough and lucky enough to get inside a telecom company is going to find a digital treasure chest,” he said.

We will continue to provide updates on this story.

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