By CultureBanx Team
- AT&T’s recent data leak of 73 million current and former customers exposed tons of personal information
- Data breaches they are often more problematic for people of color living on fixed or low incomes raising serious concerns about digital equity
AT&T’s (T+0.28%) recent data leak of 73 million current and former customers exposed tons of personal information. When it comes to data breaches they are often more problematic for people of color living on fixed or low incomes, raising serious concerns about digital equity and cybersecurity. Mitigating widespread damage from this data breach to these communities is imperative for AT&T to restore consumer confidence.
Why This Matters: The compromised dataset, found on the “dark web”, includes information such as social security numbers and private passcodes associated with approximately 7.6 million present account holders and 65.4 million past account holders. Whether this sensitive data “originated from AT&T or one of its vendors” remains uncertain, prompting AT&T to launch an extensive investigation into the incident. The breach’s details, including its undisclosed source and the unconfirmed origin of the data, add layers of complexity to understanding its full impact
It’s important for the company to also understand how its data breach continues to impact vulnerable communities to allocate money towards fixing issues stemming from this incident. Situations like these have a negative impact on Black people who are 53% more likely to claim a data breach led to a loss or decrease in business, according to a report from the Rand Corporation. People of color often fall victim to incorrect or stolen information that in turn can have long-term crippling effects.
In the backdrop of the AT&T’s breach, it’s important to understand the broader context of cybercrime and its impact on vulnerable populations. According to a survey by Malwarebytes, Digitunity, and Cybercrime Support Network, demographics play a significant role in cybercrime victimization.
This data breach follows similar incidents that have occurred across the broader sector. Late last year Comcast’s (CMCSA +0.09%) internet service arm, Xfinity, suffered a major data breach, compromising the personal information of nearly 36 million customers. It traced the breach back to a vulnerability in the software provided by Citrix, a cloud computing company.
What’s Next: Data breaches like these serve as a stark reminder of the importance of cybersecurity and the role it plays in digital equity. In response to this leak, AT&T has launched an extensive investigation, involving both internal and external cybersecurity experts, to ascertain the breach’s origin, whether from itself or one of its vendors. Also, the company has reset passcodes for affected customers and is offering credit monitoring services where applicable.
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