AT&T recently discovered a major data breach that could impact county residents. It is unclear what data is available and how many local residents are involved. (Photo by Tim Boyle/Newsmaker via Getty Images)
Last Saturday, AT&T revealed that a massive cybersecurity breach had exposed sensitive customer information, including Social Security numbers, on the dark web.
The telecom giant is sending letters and emails to affected customers, including those in Humboldt County, but if residents' data is compromised, the source could be the county government's database. gender is low. That's because AT&T doesn't have access to that kind of data from the county. agency.
“Humboldt County has not received any notifications from AT&T regarding potential data breaches. Our Information Technology Department expects to receive notifications if government account data is compromised. AT&T It is important to note that is simply a government internet service provider,” said County Spokesperson Cati Gallardo. “Resident data held by our agency is stored elsewhere and AT&T does not have access to this data.”
In response to several emailed questions, including whether it had identified a breach to customer data in Humboldt County, an AT&T spokesperson wrote in a press release issued Saturday and a letter to residents regarding the protection of their personal information. A Q&A website was sent.
“AT&T has initiated a robust investigation by internal and external cybersecurity experts. Based on our preliminary analysis, this data set appears to pre-date 2019 and represents approximately 7.6 million current “This affects AT&T account holders and approximately 65.4 million former account holders,” the release states.
The FAQ advises customers to reset their passcodes (the company says it has already reset passcodes for affected accounts) and says it is closely monitoring credit activity. Customers can also use multi-factor authentication to further secure their accounts.
The full FAQ can be found at about.att.com/story/2024/addressing-data-set-releases-on-dark-web.html.
Jackson Guilfoil can be reached at 707-441-0506.
