After AT&T breach, here’s how to protect yourself from cybersecurity attack

WICHITA, Kan. (KWCH) - You may be wondering if you should take action following a recent hack into AT&T’s customer accounts.

We now know the company paid $375,000 in ransom money so a hacker would delete the compromised data. It would just the latest breach in what has been a disastrous 2024 for many of the world’s largest companies.

Nearly all AT&T customers were affected, and the stolen data included call and text messaging metadata.

The content of calls or messages and the names of phone owners was not leaked, according to AT&T.

Jason McKinley is the CEO of Arc Technologies Group. He said it’s not a matter of if, but when, your data will be leaked in a similar breach. A lot of these breaches come down to the cybersecurity that companies like AT&T have. But here’s what you can do on your own when it comes to password management.

“Following baseline practices,” McKinley said. “Multi-factor authentication, not reusing password and doing your best to be smart when you’re interfacing with anything electronic. If you’re told, hey, this password is breached, change it everywhere and do it relatively quickly.”

McKinley also said writing down your passwords is not a safe alternative. If someone breaks into your home or business, or a fire starts, you are at risk of losing access to accounts. Instead, he recommends using a password manager.

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