AT&T is offering an apology and a free year's worth of credit monitoring services to customers who may have been affected by a security breach. Unlike recent breaches at retailers like Target and Home Depot, AT&T's was done by an insider who had illegally accessed personal information from subscribers, including Social Security numbers and driver's license information. The breach affects an unspecified number of AT&T accounts and was believed to happen in August 2014.
In a letter to Vermont's Attorney General, AT&T director of finance billing operations Michael Chiarmonte wrote:
We recently determined that one of our employees violated our strict privacy and security guidelines by accessing your account without authorization in August 2014, and while doing so, would have been able to view and may have obtained your account information including your social security number and driver's license number. Additionally, while accessing your account, the employee would have been able to view your Customer Proprietary Network Information (CPNI), without proper authorization.
The carrier said that it is reaching out to customers who may have been affected by the breach. AT&T is quick to point out that it is working with law enforcement officials and that the responsible employee is no longer a part of the AT&T organization.
In a note to Re/Code, spokesman Mark Siegel said that the breach only affected "a limited number of customers," though he did not specify how many were impacted.
AT&T said that unauthorized charges will be reversed and that customers should change their passwords on accounts.
Have you received notice from AT&T?
Source: Threat Post, Re/Code
Reader comments
Customer information compromised in AT&T insider breach
They are only providing credit monitoring for 1 year? Years ago when I worked for GAP, they had a similar issue where employee information was compromised, and gave all (either all or all affected, not sure) employees FIVE years of free credit monitoring.
You technically could use this to break your contract for free. Just saying :P
How do you figure
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Wow! Total bullsh-t
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Credit monitoring FOR LIFE? What is wrong with you people?
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ATT sucks!! Dumb autocorrect
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Art sucks. Plain and simple
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Yaaaaaaaa
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Verizon isn't any better went picked up a Iphone 5s last year went to pay by check the guy told us there's no check key told him that it's the same as cash argued for a few minutes. So Wife payed with her card same night the card was used on ebay twice and 2 pizza places. Mastercard was great let them know what happened at the Verizon store they told me it has happened before but couldn't prove who did it and had contacted Verizon security. Went back in 6 months later noticed the guy was still working there when he approached me told him I wouldn't need any help since he was still there and last time my credit card number was stolen. To my surprise that didn't seem to bother him from then on I've always done all transactions online or phone.
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If they don't charge ETF they will lose way more money and a lot of customers possibly. Just gotta treat them same way as they treat you. Went to AT&T store month ago or more got LG G3. One of the girls there went and singed me up for ISIS wallet, soft card now. Came home got thank you email. Have no clue what password she set of coarse. If enough people make big deal out of it anything is possible, but just like the case above they gotta pay up.
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Same thing happened to me, although I don't remember authorizing our rep to set it up. Also, the email address used was not mine and instead was kber1@none.com. Tried to report it but just had AT&T and ISIS wallet at each other's throats and got nowhere. Just kept getting passed back and forth and neither company was willing to resolve. Therefore I lost out.
Boom! From My S5
It's a free app that you probably wouldn't use anyway and if you wanted to you could just sign up a new account.
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Well, long enough that I don't want to pay 325 minus how ever many months which still leaves too much for a mistake that wasn't mine. Them monitoring my credit does nothing but say hey look out for your credit and oh well now you have a headache if it is compromised.
Put a fraud alert on your credit bureau. It's free and effective. Quit bitching.
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They should allow me to jump ship when this stuff happens... that's crazy
I want out. Should at the least let me cancel with no penalties
It's too late to jump ship now. It sounds like you just got phone not long ago. Well they should credit it with AT&T credit or like you said no ETF. I'm sure most of the people will not bother using year of credit monitoring.
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Hahaha someone just wants a free "out." give me a break dude you freely signed an agreement man up and fulfill it.
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Take them to your local county or city's small claim court, and sue them for the amount it would cost you to leave them. ETF and amount of your left over contract. Odds are they will not show up and the judge will rule in your favor. They aren't going to pay travel expenses and thousands an hour for their lawyers in a small claim case.
Is this only with AT&T Wireless or AT&T Everything
I've given up with all this crap and just done a full credit freeze on all three agencies. It's a PITA to set up and temporarily take down when you want credit for yourself, but nobody can open credit in your name with the freeze. We've done two cars and a mortgage since we enacted it, and each time, I did not pretell the vendor our credit was frozen. All three attempts failed until I intentionally temporarily unlocked the one agency that creditor needed.
Att should prosecute the insider and provide life lock services for life
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Jeez, somebody gets your SS# and personal information and AT&T gives you 1 year credit monitoring. The penalties need to be more severe, but AT&T would just pass it on to the consumer anyways.
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At least 5 other hackers got my info. Can't stop what's out there. No point in caring anymore.
Every time there is a breach they only offer a years worth of credit monitoring. It's ridiculous. There needs to be some kind of law passed that requires companies to provide at least 5-10 years worth of protection following a breach, if not for the rest of the customers' lives. I know it would be expensive, but maybe it would force companies to take security a little more seriously.
Lets see I have free credit monitoring from Home Depot, AT&T, Chase Bank, Target, Direct TV and a few others I am good till 2020. :p
Don't forget a few hundred UPS storefronts....
You're kidding right?
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Ouch..
Free monitoring for a year... people forget and they start charging credit card and making money or can they use the service without their credit card?
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If they use the same company that everyone else does no payment information is taken. You will have to verify your identity with information found on your credit report
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Like those other breaches at Target and other places were NOT inside jobs... Please...
ATT too?
John Legere is going to eat this alive
I can already picture him at uncarrier 8.0 bashing ATT over this fiasco
They just had uncarrier 8 if I recall
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It was Uncarrier 7
What would be the point in that? It's not like they can declare themselves immune to hackers, that would only make them the next target.
Until it happens to T-Mobile.
+1
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OK so what happens if a smart cyber thief simply waits a year to use your data. Wouldn't that thwart all these credit monitoring services for losing your data paradigm?
Don't worry, by then someone else will be breached and your free monitoring service will be extended. Welcome to the new world order....
ATT is full of it ! Your above question became our nightmare! ATT is playing down the actual damage that was yet to come. Several people and my account was compromised and the year 2015 we have had six to date incidents of purchases and changes made by others than myself! Phones were purchased in the months of June, July and August of this year despite. Password which is not. Necessary for purchase at a third party store.., You would think after the first time in 7/15 the account would be flagged as promised but right up until yesterday while speaking to ATT'S fraud division about yet another two purchased in another state (across the country) two more were purchased! I BELIEVE ATT HAS PLAYED DOWN AND COVERED UP A VERY SERIOUS SITUATION...