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AT&T says online store hacked, card information stolen

Hackers illegally accessed a computer system and stole credit card information and other personal data from thousands of customers who purchased DSL equipment from an AT&T online store, the company said.

AT&T Inc said on Tuesday the system was hacked into over the weekend. The data of "fewer than 19,000 customers" were affected, the company said.

AT&T said it shut down its online store selling the high-speed Internet access equipment and would pay for credit monitoring services for the people whose files were accessed.

The telephone company notified the major credit card companies whose customer accounts were affected.

It also sent notification to customers involved via e-mail, phone and letter.

"We recognize that there is an active market for illegally obtained personal information. We are committed to both protecting our customers' privacy and to weeding out and punishing the violators," Priscilla Hill-Ardoin, AT&T's chief privacy officer, said in a statement.

The company said the unauthorized access was found within hours of the breach.

AT&T spokesman Walt Sharp said no fraudulent charges had been reported so far. He said he could not specify on which day the breach occurred, but said routine monitoring promptly identified it.

Forensic teams and law enforcement are working to determine how the theft occurred and who was responsible, he said.

Sharp said AT&T's online store for DSL equipment was the only company site infiltrated by the hackers. Subscribers to DSL service were not affected.
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