Security Nudge. AT&T Data Compromised: Watch For Related Scams. Sponsored By CybSafe.

Cybercrime Magazine Podcast

The phone records of more than 110 million AT&T customers were compromised in a breach, providing hackers with a list of every number each cell phone and landline customer called between 1 May 2022 and 31 October 2022. Although most data breaches can lead to identity theft when information such as your address, birth date, SSN, and passport data are stolen, phone records are very different because they give cybercriminals ammunition for scams, extortion, blackmail, and other activities. That’s because it’s pretty easy to do reverse lookups that tell you who a particular phone number belongs to – meaning that it would not only allow cyber criminals to map out a target’s family and friends, but to detect if they were having an extramarital affair, frequenting seedy businesses, or associating with known criminals. They could even spoof the number of someone you trust to contact you asking for money, assistance with criminal activities, or to pressure you for access to your computer or banking verification codes under the guise of being a technical service representative. AT&T reportedly paid the cyber criminal $370,000 to delete the data they stole, but that doesn’t mean it wasn’t leaked. Be vigilant about who is calling you, and be skeptical when anybody rings you to pressure you into doing anything. The 60-second "Security Nudge" is brought to you by CybSafe, developers of the Human Risk Management Platform. Learn more at https://cybsafe.com