AT&T Got Hacked Big Time
A few months ago AT&T finally admitted they got hacked by cybercriminals. Almost all their customer data was stolen.
If you're an AT&T customer this should be a warning. But even if you are not, your phone number has likely been compromised. Because the AT&T phone records included 110 million AT&T customers and anyone they interacted with.
The good news is you can protect yourself from this hack. We also encourage you to ask your representatives in government for a federal privacy law that would give you rights if your data is compromised.
- What was stolen: Phone and text records, which numbers a customer called/texted, total number of calls/texts made, and duration of calls.
- Location, location, location: Location data of some customers was stolen, potentially revealing user location during calls/texts.
- When did this happen: Mostly from May to October 2022.
Privacy? With what we all share online? Why is this hack a big deal?
- Scammers could impersonate you to trick a person into handing over money.
- Bank texts could be copied to convince account holders to share passwords.
- For some people safety depends on the privacy of their location. Criminals may find homes of police officers and prosecutors, or use location data to blackmail people.
How could this happen? Unlike Europe, the United States lacks a comprehensive, federal data privacy law!
Large US multinational corporations can harvest data with little regulation. When data breaches occur, users bear the consequences.
Privacy is a human right. High time we give humans more privacy rights than we give companies rights to our personal data.
Mozilla has some great advice to protect your privacy.
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