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AT&T customer data stolen by hackers, says telecoms giant


Up to 19,000 consumers of AT&T have had their credit card details stolen by hackers, the company said. The security breach happened at the US telco's online equipment shop over the weekend.

"The online store was shut down immediately," said a company statement. "AT&T also quickly notified the major credit card companies whose customer accounts were involved. The company is also working with law enforcement to investigate the incident and pursue the perpetrators."

The site involved is one where consumers can buy high-speed internet equipment, though several branches of AT&T's online shops were closed as a result of the breach.

The information could be extremely valuable to criminals in perpetrating identity theft or credit fraud. "We recognise that there is an active market for illegally obtained personal information," said Priscilla Hill-Ardoin, chief privacy officer for AT&T. "We deeply regret this incident. We will work closely with law enforcement to bring these data thieves to account."

The company said that it will pay for credit monitoring for those whose details were stolen so that customers can monitor whether or not fraud has taken place.

AT&T said that it had no indications that fraudulent transactions had taken place before the company found out about the security breach.

Data breaches involving credit cards and identity details are becoming more common as more people perform day-to-day tasks online. The US Privacy Rights Clearinghouse said that 91 million sensitive records have been taken without permission since February 2005.

"We read about these breaches all the time,'' Beth Givens of Privacy Rights Clearinghouse told news agency Bloomberg. "Still, you'd think a company as prominent as AT&T would have established a more secure Web store."

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