On April 1, AT&T, one of the most well known cell phone and cell phone and data providers in the world, sent emails out to their 73 million customers stating that their personal information was compromised. This data breach affected 73 million people worldwide and is still undergoing investigation and AT&T is also facing 10 or more class-action lawsuits.

 The email to customers confirmed that some of their personal information was compromised,¨ and ¨To the best of our knowledge, the compromised data does not include personal financial information or call history.¨ 

 “Even though AT&T stated that no financial or call history information was leaked, other information such as legitimate credentials and social security numbers is possibly still able to be spread and sold on places like the Dark Web. A group that has been identified in the previous AT&T data breach back in 2021 and being accused of this data breach are known as ¨ShinyHunters¨, according to a report by PCmag. It is unknown how this group was able to breach the data of AT&T headquarters. 

A Stagg senior, Damien Tolentino, stated he is a user of AT&T and that he was aware of this data breach during this time. He said, ¨My data wasn’t working during this time and I thought it was kinda weird that my internet isn’t really working this day.¨ He also said that, ¨I wouldn’t be really comfortable sharing my information to big companies because I have all my bank information, my social security, pictures, and just private information that´is valuable to me.¨ 

English teacher Mary Stoner said that she didn’t know about the data breach, but also said that she hasn’t been affected, nor has she received any emails regarding the data breach. 

Stoner stated that, ¨The more digital the world becomes, the more often this is going to happen . She also said that in the past she has had her credit cards, checkbooks, and her identity stolen from her but she also said it isn’t permanent and is fixable. 

Another English teacher, Rob Hardwick, said that he was a user of Verizon and that he wasn’t aware about the AT&T data breach at all. He stated that, ¨If this ever happened to me, I would be upset and worried because all my information is out there, and just for it to be possibly sold onto the dark web is just heartbreaking.¨ He also said that he wouldn’t be ¨really comfortable¨ sharing his information to big companies anymore if a data breach ever happened to his data provider.