COLORADO — A massive data breach at AT&T put 73 million customers' personal information at risk.
The company announced Saturday, March 30, that the breach occurred two weeks ago. In a release, the company said it reset 7.6 million customer passcodes. Whether through AT&T or a contractor, customers' personal information was posted on the dark web.
AT&T says it is notifying current and former customers who may be affected by mail.
Data compromised in the breach includes customers' full names, birthdays, social security numbers, physical and email addresses, and AT&T account details.
Consumer experts say if customers are not notified by mail, they shouldn't assume that means their information is safe. They suggest changing passwords to sensitive accounts and adding multi-step verification to sign into those accounts. The Federal Trade Commission notes that nationwide credit bureaus — such as Equifax, Experian, and TransUnion — offer free credit freezes and fraud alerts for consumers to protect themselves and their information.
In Colorado, consumers have certain rights to prevent companies from sharing their information or holding on to personal information that can later become compromised. The Colorado Privacy Act, or CPA, allows residents to ask to see the information a company has stored on them and ask a company to delete information. Residents can ask to correct inaccurate information, ask to export their information and limit the sale of their information.
The compromised data is from 2019 and before and includes not only AT&T mobile customers but customers of all of its services. AT&T did not respond to News 5's request to learn how many customers in Colorado may be affected but suggested customers with questions contact account safety for more information.
On its website, the telecom company states it invested more than $550 million in wireless and wireline network infrastructure in Colorado between 2020 and 2022 to "connect more people to greater possibility." However, AT&T did not respond to our request to learn whether Colorado is one of the states with the most current customers.
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