AT&T warns of potential account hack tied to device unlocking request

AT&T recently sent a letter to some of its customers warning that their account security may have been breached by one of the carrier’s vendors, exposing social security numbers and birth dates. The hack, as reported by The Washington Post, was tied to consumers requesting to unlock their mobile devices.
According to the report, the security breach occurred between April 9 and April 21, with more than 500 accounts possibly impacted.
“AT&T believes the employees [from an outside service vendor] accessed your account as part of an effort to request codes from AT&T that are used to ‘unlock’ AT&T mobile phones in the secondary mobile market,” AT&T noted in the letter sent to customers.
AT&T said it would provide potentially impacted consumers with one year of free credit monitoring.
Spurred by comments from incoming Federal Communications Commission Chairman Tom Wheeler, late last year a handful of the domestic industry’s largest wireless operators and wireless trade association CTIA announced an agreement to adopt a voluntary set of policies regarding unlocking mobile devices. The carriers included Verizon Wireless, AT&T Mobility, Sprint, T-Mobile US and U.S. Cellular
Unlocking has been a contentious issue with some carriers who claim that consumers will not be able to gain access to embedded services if they use a device not initially set up for access to their networks. CTIA has stated some concern related to the bulk unlocking of devices in relation to the potential of stolen mobile devices. In August, CTIA released a statement in connection to former Acting Chairwoman Mignon Clyburn’s statement regarding device unlocking highlighted the vast number of already unlocked devices available to consumers from both independent manufacturers and carriers.
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