AT&T Investigating Internal Data Leak Affecting 73 Million

April 4, 2024— AT&T said Saturday it is investigating an internal data leak that was released on the internet. 

The telecommunications giant said that the data leak happened two weeks ago and contains sensitive personal information, including Social Security numbers. However, the company said it could not confirm if the breach was caused by AT&T or a vendor that had access to the same information.

“AT&T has determined that AT&T data-specific fields were contained in a data set released on the dark web approximately two weeks ago,” the company said in the release, referring to less-trafficked portions of the internet. “While AT&T has made this determination, it is not yet known whether the data in those fields originated from AT&T or one of its vendors.”

The company said that the data seemed to be at least five years old and affected 73 million people.

“Based on our preliminary analysis, the data set appears to be from 2019 or earlier, impacting approximately 7.6 million current AT&T account holders and approximately 65.4 million former account holders,” the company said in the press release.

AT&T said it does not have any evidence that the data was acquired through hacking of their systems. 

“Currently, AT&T does not have evidence of unauthorized access to its systems resulting in exfiltration of the data set,” the company said. 

AT&T received some backlash over its announced plans to roll back landline service in California, potentially leaving 580,000 residents with limited service options.