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vpnMentor was established in 2014 to review VPN services and cover privacy-related stories. Today, our team of hundreds of cybersecurity researchers, writers, and editors continues to help readers fight for their online freedom in partnership with Kape Technologies PLC, which also owns the following products: ExpressVPN, CyberGhost, and Private Internet Access which may be ranked and reviewed on this website. The reviews published on vpnMentor are believed to be accurate as of the date of each article, and written according to our strict reviewing standards that prioritize professional and honest examination of the reviewer, taking into account the technical capabilities and qualities of the product together with its commercial value for users. The rankings and reviews we publish may also take into consideration the common ownership mentioned above, and affiliate commissions we earn for purchases through links on our website. We do not review all VPN providers and information is believed to be accurate as of the date of each article.

AT&T Resets 73 Million Customer Passcodes After Breach

AT&T Resets 73 Million Customer Passcodes After Breach
Keira Waddell Published on 2nd April 2024 Senior Writer

AT&T has confirmed a data breach affecting over 73 million of its current and former customers. This breach, which saw sensitive customer information leaked onto the dark web, has prompted the telecommunications giant to reset the passcodes of millions of customer accounts in a bid to secure user data and mitigate potential risks.

The company has confirmed that the breach involves approximately 7.6 million current AT&T customers and 65.4 million former users, with the leaked data reportedly dating back to 2019 or earlier.

The compromised dataset includes Social Security numbers, full names, email and mailing addresses, phone numbers, dates of birth, and, notably, AT&T account numbers and passcodes. However, the company has stated that financial information and call history do not appear to have been exposed.

Security researcher Sam “Chick3nman” Croley disclosed to TechCrunch that the dataset included AT&T customer passcodes in an encrypted format. However, Croley found that the encryption did not secure the passcodes effectively. He demonstrated this by removing duplicate encrypted values from the 73 million records, after which approximately 10,000 unique encrypted values remained. These correlated with the range of possible four-digit passcode permutations, with some outliers for passcodes longer than four digits.

Croley's analysis suggested that the encrypted data's insufficient randomness could allow someone to guess a customer's four-digit account passcode, especially since many people use personally significant numbers for their passcodes. He was able to reverse-engineer which encrypted values matched specific plaintext passcodes by correlating them with surrounding account data found in the leak.

AT&T swiftly initiated a reset of passcodes for all impacted current customers to prevent unauthorized access to accounts. Additionally, AT&T has launched a robust investigation into the incident to ascertain the breach's origins and full impact. The source of the leak remains unidentified, and AT&T continues to deny that the data was directly leaked from its systems or through one of its vendors.

Notably, this is not the first time AT&T has faced security challenges; the company has experienced several breaches in recent years. It has announced plans to offer complimentary identity theft and credit monitoring services to those affected by this most recent breach.

AT&T has advised customers to remain vigilant by closely monitoring their account activity and credit reports. Affected individuals should monitor their online account activity and consider freezing their credit.

About the Author

Keira is an experienced cybersecurity and tech writer dedicated to providing comprehensive insights on VPNs, online privacy, and internet censorship.

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