AT&T has revised the scale of its recent data breach downward, though it still impacts a staggering 51 million individuals, as reported to Office of the Maine AG. This update comes after the company initially reported 73 million affected customers.
Slow Confirmation at First
Speculation of a major AT&T data breach occured in mid-March, however, it took the company nearly two weeks to confirm the breach’s validity.
Initially, AT&T barely specified that Social Security Numbers were compromised. However, in recent notifications to affected individuals, the company has revealed a far wider scope of exposed information, including:
- Full Name
- Mailing and Email Addresses
- Phone Numbers
- Dates of Birth
- Social Security Numbers
- AT&T Account Numbers and Passcodes
This is basically enough information for the hackers to start a large-scale attempt at identity theft or infiltration, ransomware, the list can really go on.
AT&T is offering some reassurance to affected customers, stating that “to the best of our knowledge,” sensitive data like personal financial information and call history were not included in the breach. But call me paranoid, on this one, again, I assume the worst.