Audio By Carbonatix
Two U.S. senators on Tuesday asked AT&T to answer questions about a massive hacking incident in April that resulted in the illegal downloading of about 109 million customer accounts at the U.S. wireless company.
Senator Richard Blumenthal, a Democrat who chairs a subcommittee on investigations and Republican Josh Hawley, sought details after AT&T disclosed on Friday its call logs were copied from its workspace on a Snowflake cloud platform covering about six months of customer call and text data from 2022 from nearly all its customers.
"The stolen information can easily provide cybercriminals, spies, and stalkers a logbook of the communications and activities of AT&T customers over several months, including where those customers live and travelled — a stunning and dangerous breach of its customers’ privacy and intrusion into their personal lives," the letter to AT&T CEO John Stankey said, asking if the wireless company will compensate consumers.
AT&T said it would respond directly to the senators.
"There is no reason to believe that AT&T’s sensitive data will not also be auctioned and fall into the hands of criminals and foreign intelligence agencies," the senators added.
Snowflake did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
In a separate letter to Snowflake, the senators raised concerns about other recent data breaches of Snowflake clients.
"The recent AT&T disclosure — three months after the breach and following other announced breaches — raises concerns that we still do not know the full scope or impact of the campaign targeting Snowflake customers," the senators wrote.
The FBI is investigating. AT&T said at least one person has been arrested. AT&T's breach is the latest big hack to hit a wide swath of Americans, coming on the heels of a ransomware attack on UnitedHealth Change Healthcare unit in February that hit an estimated one-third of the country whose private data may have been exposed.
The Federal Communications Commission said it also has an ongoing investigation.
In March, AT&T said it was investigating a data set released on the "dark web" and said its preliminary analysis showed it affected approximately 7.6 million current account holders and 65.4 million former account holders. The company said the data set appeared to be from 2019 or earlier.
Latest Stories
-
Why I won’t dance to promote my movie – Omotola
1 hour -
Trump signs bill to end shutdown but another budget cliff looms over ICE funding
5 hours -
Disney names Josh D’Amaro as new chief executive
5 hours -
PepsiCo to cut some US snack prices after backlash
5 hours -
Walmart becomes first retailer to hit $1tn market value
5 hours -
‘Sherri’ daytime talk show canceled after four seasons
5 hours -
Spain announces plans to ban social media for under-16s
5 hours -
Mahama’s pen is ready, ink is dripping to assent to LGBTQ bill – Majority Chief Whip Dafeamekpor
6 hours -
Ghana must have full ownership of its natural and mineral resources – IEA throws weight behind Mahama’s call
6 hours -
South Africa’s ex-President Zuma mentioned in Epstein emails over London dinner plan
6 hours -
Saif al-Islam Gaddafi, son of ex-Libyan leader, reportedly shot dead
6 hours -
World Cup trophy tour by Coca-Cola sparks national pride in Côte d’Ivoire
6 hours -
Gold for Reserves policy is ‘national self-sabotage’ — Minority
6 hours -
South Sudan’s leader sacks aides after dead man appointed
6 hours -
Photos: Bawumia pays courtesy call on Kufuor after flagbearer victory
7 hours
