about 280,000 AT&T customershad their personal information stolen by scammers , let in the last four digits of social security numbers and other place information . The huge rupture happened when at least three AT&T employee at a Mexico - ground call centersold customer data to scammers .
The breach extend down from November 2013 to April 2014 , lasting 168 days . That ’s an absurdly long prison term for AT&T not to notice a scam of this scale . The Federal Communications Commission is now make the telecom company yield for its loose certificate , tothe steep line of $ 25 million . AT&T also has to vamp its security policy ( ya think ? ) andhire a compliance manager .
The grifter apparently wanted client data so they couldunlock AT&T devices . AT&Twill “ unlock ” a deviceso it can be used with other carriers , as long as a customer have an unlocking postulation online . But to make the petition , you need certain client entropy , like the last four digits of your societal certificate number .
Locked phones are useless on another internet , so the stealer wanted as much data as possible to make the stolen speech sound worth it . AT&T gives up to five unlocking postulation per client , so the breach gave stealer five opportunity to unlock stolen phones for each stolen client profile .
AT&T stop upshutting down its Mexican call heart and soul , but that ’s a pretty lackluster response to the job . And it did n’t forge — in March 2015 , AT&Tadmitted that it was investigatingsimilar representative in the Philippines and Colombia , and has tot up an extra 211,000 accounts breached .
Update , 4/9 , 9:00 a.m. ET : “ protect customer privacy is critical to us . We contain ourselves and our trafficker to a high standard . Unfortunately , a few of our vender did not take on that standard and we are end vendor site as appropriate . We ’ve changed our policies and strengthen our operation . And we have , or are , touch out to affect customers to allow additional information , ” an AT&T spokesperson told Gizmodo in a statement . [ FCCviaDaily Dot ]
Image via Shutterstock / Getty
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