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AT&T Says Customer Data Accessed To Unlock Smartphones

Posted by Soulskill on from the another-day-another-breach dept.

itwbennett writes: Personal information, including Social Security numbers and call records, was accessed for an unknown number of AT&T Mobility customers by people outside of the company, AT&T has confirmed. The breach took place between April 9-21, but was only disclosed this week in a filing with California regulators. While AT&T wouldn't say how many customers were affected, state law requires such disclosures if an incident affects at least 500 customers in California.

65 comments

  1. Not doing it right by sinij · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Why would anyone give SSN to AT&T? Do they also process your taxes? If not, they have no place asking or retaining this information.

    1. Re:Not doing it right by wbr1 · · Score: 2

      Even though it is not recommended, many, many organizations use the SSN as a unique identifier. See http://consumersunion.org/news...

      --
      Silence is a state of mime.
    2. Re:Not doing it right by rsmith-mac · · Score: 5, Informative

      Credit checks for post-paid accounts.

    3. Re:Not doing it right by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      You do not need to give an SSN to AT&T, however this is not largely advertised because they make more money on contracts and collections recovery ($100 deposit vs up to $300 for collections recovery). Just like car dealers do not advertise you can talk down the price, AT&T is in business to make money. Remember that whenever you begin to ask the question "Why would anyone give their SSN to ......"

    4. Re:Not doing it right by Virtucon · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Yeah everybody want's your SSN and here's the trick folks, don't give it to them unless you absolutely have to. I'm finding it harder and harder these days to start to trust any companies with sensitive information like this. What's needed is an abstract number like a disposable e-mail address to start protecting our anonymity. Once it's used to verify if the customer is "sponge-worthy" it disappears and the requester can't use it again.

      I recently bought a new car at the same dealership where I'd previously purchased another one, about 5 years ago, and when going through all the paperwork found that they had my SSN and other financial data on file from the last time from that transaction. Needless to say I went ballistic and asked a few WTF questions of the management. They agreed that after the transaction was concluded that those details would be erased. I've since filed a complaint with the state attorney general, the state consumer affairs and the feds because none of this was disclosed 5 years ago and I don't know who has seen this data or my SSN.

      --
      Harrison's Postulate - "For every action there is an equal and opposite criticism"
    5. Re:Not doing it right by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      And they do not have to provide you with mobile phone service, either. At my business the SSN is used as a uniquely identifying field for each customer and is integrated into the billing process. We make sure that the SSN number does not appear in its entirety on any mailed documents but it is retained in our system to ensure the customer does not have credit problems that could impact ability to pay (we run soft credit checks on a regular basis on all customers). Anyone that refuses to provide a valid SSN is rejected from our services. 95%+ people do not have a problem with this.

    6. Re:Not doing it right by sinij · · Score: 4, Insightful

      >>> Anyone that refuses to provide a valid SSN is rejected from our services. Your business is clearly contributing to the problem and should be held full liable for any damage resulting from the data breach that you will inevitably experience at some point.

      As to database designers that don't self generate uidis and instead use SSN...

      Still, there are ways around such obnoxious requests. my SSN is 123-4-5678.

    7. Re:Not doing it right by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0, Interesting

      Car dealers are required by federal law to keep records of all transactions for a period of 10 years, including the purchaser's SSN and other identifying information. It's an anti-terrorism thing.

    8. Re:Not doing it right by niftymitch · · Score: 1

      Why would anyone give SSN to AT&T? Do they also process your taxes? If not, they have no place asking or retaining this information.

      Why?.... the DHS and friends have increased the information disclosure for cell phones as well as banking records....

      Companies are more and more compelled to dig into you life and keep and make available to "enforcement"
      on demands more and more information.

      We do have rather well structured standards for the management of credit card info (PCI Compliance Security Standards) but
      do not have equivalent standards for the information that others must gather. The good(ish) laws on disclosure are making it
      evident that personal data retention and access standards are needed.

      Time to write my state and federal legislature.

      --
      Truth is stranger than fiction, but it is because Fiction is obliged to stick to possibilities; Truth isn't. Mark Twain.
    9. Re: Not doing it right by jd2112 · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Because we all knew terrorists wait up to 10 years after legally purchasing a vehicle before using it in an attack, right?

      --
      Any insufficiently advanced magic is indistinguishable from technology.
    10. Re:Not doing it right by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      It's an anti-terrorism thing.

      It's a privacy in exchange for 'security' thing. Mandatory data retention laws are absurd. We are supposed to be the "land of the free," not a bunch of worthless cowards. *sigh*

    11. Re:Not doing it right by Archangel+Michael · · Score: 0

      Here's a novel Idea. Lets us the SSN as a unique identifier AFTER you have verified that that person is actually who they say they are. Do not use it for Authentication or Identification for authentication purposes, nor for any other purpose other than taxes.

      But that is exactly what was promised when the SS system was first proposed, but we all know how that worked out. Government lies.

      --
      Agent K: A *person* is smart. People are dumb, stupid, panicky animals, and you know it.
    12. Re:Not doing it right by scottbomb · · Score: 1

      Credit check. A company choosing to keep it AFTER the fact is folly, unless your a banker extending credit and you need to periodically re-run credit.

    13. Re: Not doing it right by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Credit check before they'll let you sign a contract.

    14. Re:Not doing it right by mstockman · · Score: 2

      Why would anyone give SSN to AT&T? Do they also process your taxes? If not, they have no place asking or retaining this information.

      When I first got my iPhone, the Apple Store reps could not figure out how (or wouldn't admit to knowing how) to sell an AT&T contract without a social security number. They sent me down the way to the AT&T store who also couldn't figure it out without calling in to a customer service line and escalating to a supervisor. It took over two hours to buy the damn phone without a SS#, but would have been five minutes if I had given it up. Eventually, they admitted that they have a placeholder number they can use instead of the SS# and we completed the transaction.

      Granted, this was a few years ago, but I don't see why they'd be any more cooperative today.

      So that's why people give it to them. Is it required? No. Do people have several hours to waste and the stubbornness to jump through the hoops? Not usually.

    15. Re:Not doing it right by sinij · · Score: 2

      Human irrationality.

      Would you give AT&T signed blank check if they promised they would keep it for you "for security purposes"? Most people would hesitate to do so, but having one of your checks compromised is a lot less damaging that having your identity stolen via SSN compromise.

    16. Re:Not doing it right by TemporalBeing · · Score: 1

      Even though it is not recommended, many, many organizations use the SSN as a unique identifier. See http://consumersunion.org/news...

      Technically not legal; but doesn't stop them.

      Technically - you can only use your SSN with the IRS for tax purposes; but that doesn't stop anyone.

      --
      Truth is like the sun. You can shut it out for a time, but it ain't goin' away. - Elvis Presley (source: imdb.com)
    17. Re:Not doing it right by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      ... that's not enough digits. If you want a fake generic SSN, just use 123-45-6789.... or if you want it to be slightly less obvious, use 078-05-1120.

    18. Re:Not doing it right by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Informative

      Strange, I never gave my SSN to the dealer of the last car I bought. Unless they want to a credit check, they have no reason to have your SSN. Often times they run that credit check without your explicit knowledge. They claim they have to or it is policy or they "do that for everyone" because the government requires it. That is a LIE.

    19. Re:Not doing it right by Stan92057 · · Score: 1

      And what service is that?? What company as well

      --
      Jack of all trades,master of none
    20. Re:Not doing it right by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      thanks for that number. I'd never heard of the Woolworth SSN

    21. Re:Not doing it right by Detonia · · Score: 1

      What's needed is an abstract number like a disposable e-mail address to start protecting our anonymity. Once it's used to verify if the customer is "sponge-worthy" it disappears and the requester can't use it again.

      http://10minutemail.com/10Minu...

      --
      Comment received signal SIGSEGV, Segmentation fault.
    22. Re:Not doing it right by thejynxed · · Score: 1

      It's surprising they are even following the bare minimum. Back in the dinosaur era of the 90's, when I worked for them (briefly), they got around most of such laws with impunity simply by changing where they stored customer databases.

      If there was anything I ever picked up from my time at AT&T, it was that they are masters of shady law avoidance practices.

      --
      @Mindless Drivel: 100% of Twitter posts ever Tweeted.
    23. Re:Not doing it right by thejynxed · · Score: 1

      Hell, it doesn't even stop government agencies OTHER than the IRS requiring you to use it on all kinds of forms and applications, either.

      --
      @Mindless Drivel: 100% of Twitter posts ever Tweeted.
  2. Oh fudge by rsmith-mac · · Score: 1

    SSNs? Oh fudge.

    It would be nice to get more details about this than what's available in TFA. Was this only accounts in California, etc?

    1. Re:Oh fudge by robinsonne · · Score: 1

      No, but AT&T is following the bare minimum of the letter of the law in California. I would assume it's a much wider problem.

  3. Hmmm ... by gstoddart · · Score: 5, Interesting

    "We recently learned that three employees of one of our vendors accessed some AT&T customer accounts without proper authorization," the company said in a statement.

    "This is completely counter to the way we require our vendors to conduct business."

    So, if this is completely counter to how you require it, and they didn't have authorization ... why the hell is it set up so they can access it without proper authorization???

    If the access is set up to say "do you promise to not log in when you're not supposed to?" then the system is pretty much useless.

    --
    Lost at C:>. Found at C.
    1. Re:Hmmm ... by Calydor · · Score: 1

      Because at some point the red tape would become counter to conducting business.

      If one of these employees is the store manager or even regional manager, why WOULDN'T he have the authorization to grant access? Would they need to call the AT&T HQ every time they need to look up a record to have access granted from within?

      --
      -=This sig has nothing to do with my comment. Move along now=-
    2. Re:Hmmm ... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      If one of these employees is the store manager or even regional manager, why WOULDN'T he have the authorization to grant access?

      There's no way in hell that a store employee needs to access SSN. None.

      If a SSN is required to activate service, the customer can enter their SSN at a secure kiosk.

  4. Meh... by BobMcD · · Score: 1

    So AT&T seems pretty confident that the 'breach' was inappropriate use of data that a partner of theirs had access to already. It isn't as if some unknown nefarious party hacked them for unknown malicious reasons.

    Dude queried tables they didn't think he had access to, and seemingly while doing his job.

    In other words, daily IT stuff.

    I'm not opposed to the report, per se, but the summary borders on sensationalism.

    1. Re:Meh... by Charliemopps · · Score: 1

      "Employees of one of our service providers violated our strict privacy and security guidelines by accessing your account without authorization," the company said in a letter to affected customers. "AT&T believes the employees accessed your account as part of an effort to request codes from AT&T than are used to unlock AT&T mobile phones in the secondary mobile phone market."

      You're right. People don't realize just how much regulation Telecoms and Cellular providers are under. They've got a security policy, and a vendor violated it during a routine part of their job. Likely this was just some guy that wrote a query as "Select * from accounts" instead of "Select ID, Phone, address from accounts" like he should of. AT&Ts security policy required a report on it or whatever. I saw a guy I worked with get fired for a similar mistake.

      Careful with your Queries folks... even while testing. The wrong SQL statement can land you on the front page of CNN.

    2. Re:Meh... by gstoddart · · Score: 1

      Likely this was just some guy that wrote a query as "Select * from accounts" instead of "Select ID, Phone, address from accounts" like he should of.

      Sorry, what? If your outside vendors have the ability to do a raw select on your database ... you're doing it wrong.

      These people should be coming in from an interface which only allows them to access what they're required to access, and absolutely NOTHING else.

      And your SSN should NOT be included in that.

      Hell, as a matter of security when someone asks us for read only access to our database the answer is pretty much always "hell no". If you need something, we'll create you a view, but complete raw access?? Not on your life.

      --
      Lost at C:>. Found at C.
    3. Re:Meh... by BobMcD · · Score: 1

      Clearly they're doing it wrong, thus the report.

      But is this alarming enough to be news?

      I'm pretty confident YOUR BANK is doing it wrong as well, in terms of vendor relations. And those are your actual dollars.

    4. Re:Meh... by gstoddart · · Score: 1

      But is this alarming enough to be news?

      That they're that incompetent at designing a secure system? Yeah.

      I'm pretty confident YOUR BANK is doing it wrong as well

      I'm pretty sure I live in a different country than you, and we have much stricter banking laws.

      --
      Lost at C:>. Found at C.
    5. Re:Meh... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Obligatory XKCD.

    6. Re:Meh... by alen · · Score: 1

      i bet it was someone trying to unlock a phone that wasn't supposed to be unlocked
      AT&T cracked down on third parties selling iphone unlocks and someone was probably trying to figure out how to do it again

    7. Re:Meh... by BobMcD · · Score: 1

      Perhaps I've worked with international banking websites as a vendor.

      But the point still stands. This happens a lot, and you don't necessarily need to know about it.

    8. Re:Meh... by gstoddart · · Score: 2

      This happens a lot, and you don't necessarily need to know about it.

      Unless there's a law requiring it. In this case, there was.

      Me, I think corporations should be required to tell people about such breaches.

      Because then maybe they'd learn to stop the breaches instead of pretending they never happened.

      --
      Lost at C:>. Found at C.
    9. Re: Meh... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I work for the company and there has never been a third party selling iPhone unlocks. All legit iPhone unlocks are submitted to apple via the carrier then apple does the final approval and then iTunes does the rest.

      Jail broken and then unlocked phones via that method ,no one at the t went after them.

    10. Re:Meh... by Karlt1 · · Score: 1

      i bet it was someone trying to unlock a phone that wasn't supposed to be unlocked
      AT&T cracked down on third parties selling iphone unlocks and someone was probably trying to figure out how to do it again

      Why would you need to go to a third party? They have a simple form on their website that you fill out and they will unlock it for you as long as you fulfilled your contract. I requested an iPhone to be unlocked two years after I left the service and the turnaround was less than 3 days. Verizon on the otherhand....

    11. Re:Meh... by BobMcD · · Score: 1

      More likely you'd set up your spam filter to squelch all the notifications.

      Again, incidental contact happens billions of times in a given day worldwide. Most laws don't require reporting it. HIPAA, for example, specifically permits it as a part of doing business.

  5. Translation by ArhcAngel · · Score: 1

    We received what we thought was a request for data from the NSA on April 9th. We happily complied and began sending the data. We were shocked when the REAL NSA called on April 21st requesting the same data. Naturally we gave them the data and stopped sending it to #Fake NSA.

    --
    "A person is smart. People are dumb, panicky dangerous animals and you know it." - K
    1. Re:Translation by PPH · · Score: 1

      That National Security Letterhead really seems to be making the rounds with the scammers. That, a fake ID and a pair of cheap dark glasses and anyone thinks they can just shove their way into your business.

      --
      Have gnu, will travel.
  6. It's Spearphishing by EmagGeek · · Score: 1

    I get 4 to 5 calls a day from an automated scammer trying to get me to "claim my $200 AT&T bill credit" by logging into a fake AT&T site using all kinds of sensitive personal information.

    The scammers take that information and use it to buy phones and plans under the victim's account and ship them overseas where they can be used by whoever.

  7. Getting erroneous statements from ATT for years by walterbyrd · · Score: 1

    I constantly get statements from ATT saying "we have deducted this money from your bank account" I have been getting them for two years, at least.

    ATT tells me it is a glitch in their system, and not to worry about it.

    So far, no money has been wrong deducted, that I am aware of.

    However, I do not consider this to be confidence inspiring.

    1. Re:Getting erroneous statements from ATT for years by coinreturn · · Score: 1

      I constantly get statements from ATT saying "we have deducted this money from your bank account" I have been getting them for two years, at least.

      ATT tells me it is a glitch in their system, and not to worry about it.

      So far, no money has been wrong deducted, that I am aware of.

      However, I do not consider this to be confidence inspiring.

      Meanwhile, some other sucker is getting money deducted without an explanation.

  8. NSA? by JStyle · · Score: 1

    I thought the NSA was doing this for a while already.

  9. Wrong. That is a lie. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    Dealers and sales liars say that to run your credit in order to sucker you.

    Remember folks, everything that comes out of a sales person's mouth is a lie until proven otherwise.

  10. More complaints to file by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    Also file a BBB complaint and write a letter - snail mail - to the credit bureau(s) they pulled the report from and let them know that it was done without your permission or knowledge. Let them know those sacks of shit are acting unethically and possibly against the terms of their subscription with the credit bureaus.

  11. Re:Wrong. That is a lie. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    Funny,. the article you linked to says this:

    Dealers are required to ask for identification, such as a driver license, from buyers who are purchasing a car for more than $10,000 in cash. They also must get a Social Security number or Tax ID Number.

  12. That's only an excuse. by Ecuador · · Score: 1

    I know that is often used as the "excuse" but you don't actually need a SSN to run a credit-check. Name and address are enough, which is why e.g. a landlord can avoid sounding too obtrusive by not asking for the applicant's SSN - they can get the credit report just fine with the name and previous address.

    --
    Violence is the last refuge of the incompetent. Polar Scope Align for iOS
    1. Re:That's only an excuse. by scottbomb · · Score: 2

      Without an SSN you need a DOB. At least that's the case for all the credit checks I've run at mutliple companies over the past 20 years.

    2. Re:That's only an excuse. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      Not true. I can confirm that for example Experian tenant check only asks you for the name and address, yet the report contains the SSN (and DOB)! Other less known agencies offer similar services.

    3. Re:That's only an excuse. by Ecuador · · Score: 1

      Sorry, but you are wrong. The AC mentioned Experian, so I guess this is a quick example: http://www.experian.com/screening-services/tenant-credit-check.html Only name and address needed (and annual income if you want them to make a decision for you, but not for the credit check). But you could also ask the hordes of people who are surprised when they find out their car dealer ran their credit with only their name and address (hint: if they never gave permission they can pursue the FCRA violation).

      --
      Violence is the last refuge of the incompetent. Polar Scope Align for iOS
  13. But you can fix it easily by Ecuador · · Score: 1

    ... by adding a "pinky swear" checkbox.

    --
    Violence is the last refuge of the incompetent. Polar Scope Align for iOS
  14. Weev by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Sounds like the same great 'security' that Weev broke. Meaning no security at all, you just have to guess the URL.

  15. Re:Wrong. That is a lie. by RabidReindeer · · Score: 1

    Funny,. the article you linked to says this:

    Dealers are required to ask for identification, such as a driver license, from buyers who are purchasing a car for more than $10,000 in cash. They also must get a Social Security number or Tax ID Number.

    Pretty much anything that involves more than $10,000 has to be reported to the Feds. Whether it's cash or not.

  16. CASH - and ONLY Cash, Geeze! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    If you are buying in CASH - not always - contrary to what the dealers say and they say you ALWAYS have to give your SSN.

    God!

  17. SSN? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    why would the telephone company have people's social security number? I thought only the employers, bank and internal revenue service need a person's SSN.

    1. Re:SSN? by PPH · · Score: 1

      need a person's SSN.

      Correct. But there's nothing stoping them from asking you for one. And refusing to do business with you if you fail to provide one. There is no law preventing the use of an SSN as a part of customer records. Want one? Contact your legislator. But good luck with this.

      On the other hand, there is nothing that says you have to give AT&T, or anyone else without a federal reporting requirement the correct SSN. I give them the one that came on the sample card in my wallet.

      --
      Have gnu, will travel.
  18. This explains the phishing attempts by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    I've been getting an automated phone call just about daily that claims to be at&t requesting that I go to a website and enter all my credentials so I can win $200. I knew it would only be a matter of time until this headline popped up.

  19. my phone. your phone. our phone by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    so how did this go?
    "hey bob. this att subsided phone blows ch7nks. anyway to remedy this?
    sure. just gimme your ssn and we'll unlock it.
    why?
    well if its unlocked we can sell it to africa.
    I see bob. heres my ssn then and get me a good price in africa.
    will do.