CPM Investigating AT&T Data Breach Affecting 73 Million Current and Former AT&T Customers
HAVE YOU RECEIVED A NOTICE FROM AT&T THAT YOUR PRIVATE INFORMATION WAS COMPROMISED IN A DATA BREACH?
You may be entitled to compensation from a class action lawsuit.
Cotchett, Pitre & McCarthy is investigating a massive data breach hidden for years and finally disclosed by AT&T. Hackers may have been circulating stolen AT&T customer data as far back as 2021. Criminal hackers that call themselves Shinyhunters were auctioning off an archive containing data on over 70 million AT&T accounts, including full names, email addresses, physical addresses, and at least in some cases, social security numbers and dates of birth.
AT&T denied that the information had come from its systems, or that it had suffered a breach. In March 2024, a hacker called MajorNelson circulated a 5GB archive that contained the same information. MajorNelson made the data freely available on a hacking forum, though AT&T wrongly asserted it was only available on the “Dark Web.” This distinction is important because Dark Web sites are generally criminally run and only accessible with specially designed browsers and applications. This information, however, was available on a normal website and thus exposed to anyone with internet access and a browser.
Despite ample evidence that the information was legitimate and sourced directly from AT&T, AT&T again denied that the data had come from its systems. But on March 30, 2024, the company changed its tune after a security researcher analyzed the leaked data and found users' AT&T passcodes in the archive, according to TechCrunch. AT&T reset the accounts of 7.6 million current users, requiring them to create new access credentials.
On March 30, 2024, AT&T finally admitted “Based on our preliminary analysis, the data set appears to be from 2019 or earlier, impacting approximately 7.6 million current AT&T account holders and 65.4 million former account holders.”
Companies like AT&T must do more to protect consumers’ valuable information. Consumers deserve to have their information protected and when mega corporations like AT&T fall short of their obligations, consumers are entitled to compensation. Cotchett, Pitre & McCarthy Partner, Thomas E. Loeser, is a former federal cyber-prosecutor specializing in hacking data breach cases. If you received notice of the AT&T breach, please contact us by filling out the form below.
Now that CPM has filed its initial case concerning the data breach, there is nothing that you need to do to be a part of the case. If you submit your information via the form below, we will be able to provide you with important case updates, if you elect to receive them. Otherwise, we will post updates to this web page, and you can check back any time. Note that since data breach cases like this one have millions of affected consumers, it is generally not possible for us to answer individual phone calls about a case. If your question is not answered on this web page, please send an email and we will get back to you as soon as we can.
CASE UPDATE
On August 14, 2024, the Court entered its Case Management Order #2. In this Order, Cotchett, Pitre & McCarthy Partner Thomas Loeser was appointed to the Plaintiff’s Steering Committee for the case. In this role he joins an elite group of 11 attorneys who will lead this important case.
On July 24, the Court issued its first order in the case [hyperlink]. The court has set August 7 for the due date for motions to be in leadership of the case. Sometime thereafter, the Court will decide leadership and then the case will begin in earnest.
All of the AT&T Data breach cases filed throughout the United States have been transferred to the Northern District of Texas for further proceedings. Click HERE to view the transfer order. The next step will be for the Court in Texas to decide on leadership for that case. This process should be complete by September.
Cases like this take a while, so check back for further updates.
-CPM Data Breach Litigation Team.
CPM has filed two cases against AT&T:
Vita et al. v. AT&T, Inc. (N.D. California)
Garner et al. v. AT&T, Inc. (N.D. Texas)
All of the AT&T Data breach cases filed throughout the United States have been transferred to the Northern District of Texas for further proceedings. The transfer order is linked below. The next step will be for the Court in Texas to decide on leadership for that case. This process should be complete by September.
MORE INFORMATION ABOUT THE AT&T DATA BREACH
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/att-data-breach-2024-cbs-news-explains/
https://www.foxnews.com/tech/att-data-leak-what-you-need-to-do-next