At&t Important Information Letter: Understanding the Impact of the Recent Breach

You recently received an AT&T Important Information Letter, and you're wondering what it's all about. The letter is a result of a recent data breach that affected some of AT&T's customers.

The breach occurred in 2020 and exposed sensitive information, including Social Security numbers, driver's license numbers, and financial information. This information was compromised due to a vulnerability in a third-party vendor's software.

If you're one of the affected customers, you'll want to act quickly to protect yourself from potential identity theft. The letter will inform you of the specific information that was compromised and provide instructions on how to take action.

It's essential to take this breach seriously and take immediate action to secure your sensitive information. By understanding the impact of the breach and taking the necessary steps, you can minimize the risk of identity theft and other potential consequences.

Let's dive into what happened with the AT&T important information letter.

AT&T sent out a letter to millions of customers, including those with internet and TV services.

The letter informed customers that their internet and TV services would be affected by a system upgrade.

The upgrade aimed to improve the quality and reliability of AT&T's services.

However, the upgrade caused widespread outages and disruptions to many customers.

Many customers reported losing internet and TV services for several hours or even days.

The outages were caused by technical issues with the upgrade process.

AT&T acknowledged the issues and apologized to affected customers.

The company promised to provide compensation to customers who experienced outages.

The compensation included credits on customers' bills or refunds for lost services.

AT&T has already taken action by resetting the passcodes of affected customers.

The company discovered the exposed information in a data set on the dark web and is still investigating the issue.

AT&T's preliminary analysis suggests the data set is from 2019 or earlier.

The data breach impacted approximately 7.6 million current AT&T account holders and 65.4 million former account holders.

AT&T encourages customers with questions to visit www.att.com/accountsafety for more information.

The company has not found evidence of unauthorized access to its systems resulting in the exfiltration of the data set.

If you're an AT&T customer, you're likely wondering how this data breach might affect you. The good news is that the breach didn't include the content of any calls or texts, nor the timestamps, and it also doesn't have any details such as Social Security numbers, dates of birth, or other personally identifiable information.

AT&T is contacting customers whose data was compromised by the breach, and you can also check the status of your account to see if your data was affected through your myAT&T profile. You can request the phone numbers of the calls and texts compromised by the breach until December 2024.

If you're an active AT&T wireless or home phone customer, you can get help with this process through your AT&T profile. If you're a prior customer, you can access your breached data through a data request, even if you don't have your case number.

Here are some steps you can take to protect yourself from phishing and scamming:

If you suspect suspicious text activity, forward it to AT&T for free, and it won't count towards your text plan. You can also report fraud to AT&T's fraud team.