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AT&T to pay $13 million to settle FCC probe over cloud data breach
AT&T has agreed to pay $13 million to settle a federal investigation into whether the mobile phone service provider failed to protect customer information in connection with a data breach last year, the Federal Communications Commission said Tuesday.
The FCC’s probe focused on how AT&T’s privacy, cybersecurity and vendor management practices may have played a role in the January 2023 breach, in which hackers penetrated the company’s cloud system. The breach exposed data belonging to nearly 9 million wireless customers.
As part of the settlement, AT&T entered a consent decree that requires the telecommunications giant to enhance its data governance practices, increase its supply chain integrity, and ensure appropriate processes and procedures in handling sensitive data.
Before the cyberattack, AT&T relied on a third-party vendor to host customer data. The user information exposed in the hack, including the number of lines on a customer’s account and billing information from 2015 through 2017, should have been deleted well before the breach, according to the FCC.
“The Communications Act makes clear that carriers have a duty to protect the privacy and security of consumer data, and that responsibility takes on new meaning for digital age data breaches,” FCC Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel said in a statement. “Carriers must take additional precautions given their access to sensitive information, and we will remain vigilant in ensuring that’s the case no matter which provider a customer chooses.
FCC Enforcement Bureau Chief Loyaan A. Egal also said telecom firms “have an obligation to reduce the attack surface and entry points that threat actors seek to exploit in order to access sensitive customer data.”
AT&T has been subject to subsequent breaches, including an April cyberattack it disclosed in July in which hackers “nearly all” of its cellular customers’ text and call records for a six-month period between May 1, 2022 to Oct. 31, 2022.
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Gunmen in southeast Mexico open fire in a bar killing 6 and injuring 5
Gunmen opened fire early Sunday at a bar in southeast Mexico, killing six people and injuring at least five others.
The shooting took place in the coastal province of Tabasco, which is struggling with a recent increase in violence.
Public Safety Secretary Omar García Harfuch said on X that the shooting happened in Villahermosa and that federal authorities are working with local officials to help solve the crime.
“Armed persons” entered the bar “looking for a specific person” and the shots hit those nearby, state deputy prosecutor Gilberto Melquiades said at a press conference, adding that an investigation was ongoing, AFP reported.
No arrests were reported, and it wasn’t immediately clear what prompted the shooting. Videos posted on social media show people fleeing the bar while some survivors stayed with the victims as police arrived.
The spiraling violence, much of it linked to drug trafficking and gangs, has seen more than 450,000 people murdered in Mexico since 2006.
Sunday’s attack was the latest violent incident to occur as President Christina Sheinbaum inherited a whirlwind of violence.
The former Mexico City mayor, who became the country’s first woman president on October 1, has ruled out declaring “war” on drug cartels.
Instead, she has pledged to continue her predecessor’s strategy of using social policy to tackle crime at its roots, while also making better use of intelligence. Sheinbaum has also studiously avoided using the “hugs, not bullets” slogan popularized by her predecessor and mentor, López Obrador.
Earlier this month, gunmen opened fire in a bar in central Mexico killing 10 people and injuring 13. The attack took place in the historic city center of Querétaro in a region that until recently had long been spared the violence seen in neighboring states like Guerrero.
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Former Trump national security adviser says upcoming months are “really critical” for Ukraine
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Face the Nation: Van Hollen, McMaster, McBride
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