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AT&T revealed Friday morning<\/a> that a cybersecurity attack had exposed call records and texts from \u201cnearly all\u201d of the carrier\u2019s cellular customers (including people on mobile virtual network operators, or MVNOs, that use AT&T\u2019s network, like Cricket, Boost Mobile, and Consumer Cellular). The breach took place during the period between May 1st, 2022, and October 31st, 2022, in addition to an incident that impacted a \u201cvery small number\u201d of customers on January 2nd, 2023.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n AT&T spokesperson Alex Byers confirmed to The Verge<\/em> the threat actor accessed the information through the company\u2019s account on a third-party cloud platform, Snowflake, similar to data breaches that have affected Ticketmaster and Santander Bank<\/a>. AT&T first learned of the breach in April, but as reported by TechCrunch<\/em><\/a>, an FBI spokesperson confirmed \u201cAT&T, the FBI and the Department of Justice agreed to delay notifying the public and customers on two occasions, citing \u2018potential risks to national security and\/or public safety.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n The stolen data includes which phone numbers customers interacted with, and Byers tells The Verge<\/em> that the breach also includes \u201ccounts of those calls\/texts and total call durations for specific days or months.\u201d <\/p>\n<\/div>\n The downloaded data doesn\u2019t include the content of any calls or texts. It doesn\u2019t have the time stamps for the calls or texts. It also doesn\u2019t have any details such as Social Security numbers, dates of birth, or other personally identifiable information.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n While the data doesn\u2019t include customer names, there are often ways to find a name associated with a phone number using publicly available online tools.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n In a blog post, AT&T said \u201cwe do not believe that the data is publicly available\u201d and that it has \u201ctaken steps to close off the illegal access point.\u201d The company is working with law enforcement to \u201carrest those involved\u201d and says one person has already been apprehended.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n \u201cWe will provide notice to current and former customers whose information was involved along with resources to help protect their information,\u201d AT&T writes. \u201cWe sincerely regret this incident occurred and remain committed to protecting the information in our care.\u201d <\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n