Senators Grill AT&T and Snowflake Over Massive Data Breach

135

Two U.S. senators, Democrat Richard Blumenthal and Republican Josh Hawley, are demanding answers from AT&T (T.N) in the wake of a major data breach that compromised the personal information of millions of customers. The breach, which came to light in July 2024, involved the illegal download of call logs from nearly all of AT&T’s wireless customers, spanning a six-month period in 2022.

Details of the Breach and Potential Impact

According to the senators’ letter to AT&T CEO John Stankey, the stolen information included customer call and text data, potentially exposing sensitive details like locations travelled and communication patterns. This raises serious concerns about privacy violations and the potential exploitation by criminals, spies, and stalkers. The senators emphasize the “stunning and dangerous” nature of the breach, highlighting the intrusion into customers’ personal lives.

Compensation for Affected Customers

A key question raised by the senators is whether AT&T will offer compensation to its affected customers. The potential misuse of stolen data can cause significant harm, and financial compensation could be a form of redress for the inconvenience and security risks faced by customers.

Security Concerns with Cloud Platform Snowflake

The breach involved AT&T’s data stored on Snowflake’s (SNOW.N) cloud platform, raising questions about the platform’s security. The senators sent a separate letter to Snowflake expressing concerns about other recent data breaches affecting their clients. The timing of the AT&T disclosure, three months after the actual incident and following other breaches, suggests a lack of complete transparency regarding the extent and impact of these attacks targeting Snowflake customers.

Ongoing Investigations

The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) is actively investigating the AT&T breach, and at least one arrest has been reported. This incident serves as a stark reminder of the growing threat of cyberattacks on major corporations, potentially impacting millions of Americans. It follows a similar large-scale attack on UnitedHealth Group’s (UNH.N) Change Healthcare unit in February 2024, which exposed the private data of an estimated one-third of the U.S. population.

Federal Communications Commission Involvement

The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has also launched an investigation into the AT&T data breach. Regulatory bodies are taking a proactive stance to ensure accountability and prevent similar incidents from happening in the future.

Prior Data Exposure Concerns

In March 2024, AT&T acknowledged investigating a separate data set circulating on the dark web. Their preliminary analysis suggested that this data, believed to be from 2019 or earlier, impacted approximately 7.6 million current and 65.4 million former account holders. The recent breach involving call logs highlights the ongoing challenges AT&T faces in protecting customer data.

The coming weeks and months will be crucial in determining the full extent of the damage caused by this data breach. The investigations by the FBI and FCC, combined with the pressure from senators, will likely push for stronger data security measures from AT&T and cloud platforms like Snowflake.