AT&T Suffers Massive Data Breach Exposing 86 Million Customer Records

AT&T has confirmed a massive data breach affecting over 86 million customers, with sensitive personal information including full names, birthdates, phone numbers, email and physical addresses, and 44 million fully decrypted Social Security numbers exposed on the dark web. The stolen data was initially posted to a Russian cybercrime forum and is believed to be linked to an earlier breach involving the hacking group ShinyHunters, with hackers exploiting accounts lacking multi-factor authentication. Despite claims from the original seller that this breach stems from the Snowflake cloud storage platform hack, AT&T and security analysts assert the data is largely repackaged from a March 2024 release, though this breach contains roughly 16 million additional records. Customers were notified during the prior breach, and AT&T is conducting a full investigation while cooperating with law enforcement. Security experts are urging AT&T customers to monitor their credit reports and take protective measures against potential identity theft and fraud. The breach underscores ongoing vulnerabilities in cybersecurity practices, particularly regarding multi-factor authentication and cloud data management.