13 Jul AT&T Data Breach Poses Phishing Attack Risk To Consumers
This week in cybersecurity from the editors at Cybercrime Magazine
– Sausalito, Calif. – Jul. 13, 2024
Newsday reports that AT&T disclosed Jul. 12 that nearly all its customers were affected by a data breach that exposed call and text message records from a six-month stretch in 2022.
The Dallas-based company said it discovered the breach in April. The data includes the phone numbers that customers called or texted but not the content of calls or text messages, Social Security numbers, dates of birth or other personally identifiable information.
AT&T said the breach also did not include customers’ names but it cautioned that publicly available online tools can identify names associated with phone numbers.
Just because the breach doesn’t include information such as credit card numbers doesn’t mean the data won’t be used maliciously, said Steve Morgan, founder of Northport-based Cybersecurity Ventures and publisher of Cybercrime Magazine.
“It’s a myth that if a breach only contains email addresses or cell phone numbers, but no other sensitive info, i.e. credit card numbers, etc., then there’s no risk,” Morgan said. “On the contrary, the reality is that cybercriminals crave and use emails and cell numbers to launch mass phishing attacks with customized subject lines and messages to unsuspecting victims.”
Morgan added that all AT&T customers should change their passwords and enable multifactor authentication.
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