ALERT ! AT&T Hacked ALERT!

Published On June 18, 2014 | By Tom Huskerson | Breach Briefs, News and Analysis

AT&T has revealed that it was hacked by a third party vendor. The vendor or employees of that vendor gained unauthorized access to AT&T customer data including Social Security numbers and birthdays. AT&T has not said how many customers are affected but they are sending notices and providing credit monitoring.

According to AT&T the vendor’s employees accessed customer accounts while requesting codes from AT&T  used to unlock AT&T mobile phones for re-sale and activation on  other telecommunications providers networks.

Breaking It Down

This was an inside job. Even AT&T admits it. They partnered with  another company in a business deal to re-sell cell phones and, as it turns out, the vendor could not be trusted.

If you are African-American and an AT&T customer you need to pay attention. Since no one knows how many records were breached your name might be among them. Black customers need to be aware of what information companies have of yours. To get a cell phone contract you must have acceptable credit. Thus they need your Social Security number and date of birth. So you need to ask yourself; how many other companies have this information?

AT&T is surely going to  terminate their relationship with this company but what I want to know is where were the safeguards? Did they not see this could happen? How was customer information so easily accessed? Especially information like Social Security numbers. If you don’t know this is the Holy Grail of personal information and made even more valuable by the addition of birth dates. How the hell did that happen? AT&T will never tell.

And as for terminating relationships this would be a good one to start with. You want to send a message to AT&T? Simply terminate your contract and refused to pay the early termination fees. If they placed it on your credit record dispute it. Take a stand! If enough people do that its going to hurt. Even for a company as large as AT&T.

AT&T is not offering their customers anything to compensate for this screw up. What I get tired of hearing is how they are going to “provide credit monitoring to affected customers.” Let me tell every African-American that reads this blog; credit monitoring is the equivalent of having a fire alarm but no fire department. If something happens to you as a result of this breach all you get is a warning. You’d have to sue AT&T to get anything more.

For more information on this AT&T hack please visit the following sites;


AT&T customer data compromised by phone unlocking service


AT&T suffers data breach


AT&T confirms inside job responsible for customer data breach

 

For more information on this AT&T hack please visit the following sites;

Like this Article? Share it!

About The Author

Tom Huskerson Bio Born in Richmond Virginia Tom Huskerson is a military veteran who settled in California after his discharge. Tom attended Santa Barbara City College where he began his writing career as a campus reporter. He worked as an intern news reporter for the Santa Barbara News-Press writing feature stories before moving on to San Francisco. At San Francisco State University Tom studied broadcast communications and began to focus on the Internet. He completed his graduate thesis on Internet advertising. Tom was the first student to ever focus on the Internet as a graduate student at San Francisco State University. After graduation he went to work for Zona Research in California’s Silicone Valley. As a research associate Tom supported senior analyst writing on the latest developments in the Internet industry. During the dot com boom Tom worked for several web businesses as a market researcher and analyst. As a writer and researcher Tom has authored various technical works including a training program for Charles Schwab security. Other projects included professional presentations on workplace violence and hiring security contractors. Tom has also written both fiction and non-fiction works and blogging for a travel website. He has published two books of short stories and completed two novels. Tom is the owner of Scribe of Life Literature and EbonyCandle.com. Tom is not the chief editor for the OnTechStreet. com. A news and information blog that focuses on tech news for African-Americans. The blog is the result of his desire to inform the African American community of the dangers and benefits of the cyber age. In his blog Tom reports on information security, new and analysis, scams and hoaxes, legal happenings and various topics that arise from the age of information. Tom believes that technology is a necessary tool for black people and they should know what is happening. Tom writes believing that techno speak is for the professional and that valuable information can be communicated using plain language. As a result he has embraced the motto, Less Tech, More Knowledge.

Comments are closed.