Hackers Steal AT&T Customers' Credit Card Data

AT&T revealed that hackers were able to steal credit card and other personal information belonging to some 19,000 customers of its online store.

Computer hackers stole the credit card information and some personal data of approximately 19,000 customers who purchased DSL equipment via AT&T's online store. Subscribers to its service, though, were not affected.

The theft occurred over the weekend, AT&T said, and is currently under investigation by authorities.

The company is offering to pay for credit monitoring services for customers who were affected by the security breach.

"We recognize that there is an active market for illegally obtained personal information. We are committed to both protecting our customers' privacy and to weeding out and punishing the violators," said Priscilla Hill-Ardoin, AT&T's chief privacy officer.

Companies have been separated from their customers' data in a myriad of ways over the last few years. Some organizations have lost data when laptops containing identifying information were lost or stolen. Other firms most notably data broker Choicepoint have been duped into handing over customer data; in Choicepoint's case, customer data was actually faxed to identity thieves posing as clients.

Hack attacks, such as the one against AT&T, are particulary worrisome because often in these cases, even if the company does everything right, its systems may still be vulnerable.

"Stories like this make the public a little wary of conducting business online," Ron O'Brien, senior security consultant for Sophos , told TechNewsWorld. "At the same time though, it is a wake-up call for the vendor to make sure its method of collecting data is completely secure."