At the Mobile World Congress, a visitor walks past the logo of American multinational telecommunications company AT&T… [+] MWC, the telecommunications industry’s largest annual conference, held in Barcelona on February 27, 2023. (Photo by Pau Barrena/AFP) (Photo by Pau Barrena/AFP via Getty Images)
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The AT&T breach, which allowed unauthorized access to sensitive information through compromised customer service channels, is a frightening wake-up call to the dark underside of the digital age, where personal data can be leaked onto the dark web with the click of a button. Data breaches are often more problematic for people of color living on fixed or low incomes, raising serious concerns about digital equity and cybersecurity going forward.
Need to know:
As one of the largest telecommunications companies, AT&T’s failure to protect customer information not only undermines trust in the brand but also points to urgent concerns about cybersecurity around the world, Culture Banks reported. Hackers stole six months’ worth of call and text message records for nearly all of AT&T’s mobile phone network customers, the company said in a statement last week.
AT&T said the stolen customer data included call and text records from May 1 to about Oct. 31, 2022, and from Jan. 2, 2023. What was compromised was information known as metadata, which is details of a large-scale analyzed set of communications between people, including customers’ phone numbers.
The aftermath of the AT&T data breach laid the groundwork for significant economic disadvantage, especially for minority communities. While the stolen data did not include personal communications, it did include details such as the locations of cell towers near subscribers.
According to Krebon Security, this information could be used to estimate a customer’s location while calling or texting, increasing the risk of financial profiling and targeted fraud. Additionally, the data leak revealed call and text message records from mobile providers that resell AT&T services, which could be used by malicious actors to orchestrate more convincing fraud schemes.
Infiltrating vulnerable communities:
With the backdrop of the AT&T breach, it is important to understand the broader context of cybercrime and how it impacts vulnerable populations. Research by Malwarebytes, Digitunity and the Cybercrime Support Network shows that demographics significantly influence cybercrime victimization. Mitigating the widespread harm of this data breach to these communities is essential for AT&T to restore consumer trust.
It’s also important for companies to understand how data breaches continue to impact marginalized communities and allocate funding to address issues resulting from these incidents. This disproportionately impacts Black people, who are 53% more likely to claim that a data breach led to lost or diminished business, according to a RAND Corporation report. People of color are more likely to fall victim to misinformation or stolen information, which can have serious long-term effects.
What’s next:
AT&T has 127 million devices connected to its wireless network, which is why government agencies including the Department of Justice, FBI and FCC are investigating how this breach occurred. Data breaches like this are a stark reminder of the importance of cybersecurity and the need for both the public and private sectors to mitigate risk to vulnerable communities.
