AT&T customer data compromised thanks to inside job

AT&T customers have reason to be alarmed as it has been revealed that they’ve been subject to some information theft. According to reports from IDG, AT&T has started notifying customers of a breach that occurred between April 9th and April 21st. The breach allowed some no-good souls to get away with social security numbers and names.

It’s said the information was used to spoof customer accounts so that the offenders could illegally activate phone service and unlock phones. So how did this happen? Well, it wasn’t due to shoddy security being exposed by skillful hackers. A group of a few people from one of AT&T’s contractors used unauthorized methods to gain access to the information.

This effectively makes the incident an inside job. For their part, AT&T says they do not share customer data with contractors outside of a strict set of protocols and policies they adhere to. That’s reassuring, though it doesn’t do much for those whose information was accessed.

We’re not sure how they’ll handle things from here, but we’re almost certain customers affected will be hooked up with some free identity protection. AT&T has also mentioned that they are reviewing their operations and getting law enforcement involved to make sure this doesn’t happen again. Be sure to check your email or snail mail to make sure you weren’t part of the bunch that was affected. The full statements lie straight ahead.

AT&T Statement to Consumers:

“Employees of one of our service providers violated our strict privacy and security guidelines by accessing your account without authorization,” the company said in a letter to affected customers. “AT&T believes the employees accessed your account as part of an effort to request codes from AT&T than are used to unlock AT&T mobile phones in the secondary mobile phone market.”

AT&T Statement to Press:

“This is completely counter to the way we require our vendors to conduct business. We know our customers count on us and those who support our business to act with integrity and trust, and we take that very seriously. We have taken steps to help prevent this from happening again, we are notifying affected customers, and we have reported this matter to law enforcement,”