Expert gives insight into nationwide AT&T hacking

ROANOKE, Va. (WFXR)– Almost all 100 million people in the United States who use AT&T were impacted by hacking that included a portion of their information.

The company revealed customers’ phone call and text message history in 2022 from May 1 to October 31, 2022, and a smaller group of people had their call and message history from January 2, 2023, leaked as well.

However, no major sources of personal information were obtained by the hackers.

“It’s not your social security number, it’s not your billing information,” Jullie Wheeler, the president and CEO of Western Virginia’s Better Business Bureau, said. “It’s calls you made, texts you made, and when you made them.”

Although the company has not confirmed it, the content of customers’ calls and messages does not appear to be breached at this time. Therefore, Wheeler believes the likely outcome of this incident is hackers will match names to phone numbers to spam call people.

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Wheeler says although it’s possible the hacker’s goal with this information could be more sinister, they usually just take what they can get.

“They usually like the bang for the buck, what they can do quickly,” Wheeler said. “A bunch of cell numbers gives them the ability to spam (call).”

While the investigation is ongoing, there isn’t much AT&T customers can do at this time. However, it is recommended that they remain calm and upgrade their device’s security if possible.

“Don’t panic because in this particular case, it doesn’t appear like there was financial information involved, and that’s obviously where your biggest risk is,” Wheeler said. “Just wait to see if you hear from AT&T and what they encourage you to do.”

It is unclear when AT&T will conclude its investigation. When it does, customers will be notified of what happened and what they would need to do.

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