FCC Fines AT&T $13 Million for Data Breach Last Year

WASHINGTON, Sept. 18, 2024 – AT&T has agreed to pay $13 million and beef up its data security practices to end a federal investigation into a data breach last year.

The breach involved the billing information of about 9 million AT&T customers. The information, held by an unnamed vendor, was from 2015 through 2017. The Federal Communications Commission said Tuesday that the company should have made sure the vendor deleted it years ago.

“The Communications Act makes clear that carriers have a duty to protect the privacy and security of consumer data, and that responsibility takes on new meaning for digital age data breaches,” FCC Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel said in a statement.