Wired magazine reported that AT&T paid a hacker about $370,000 to delete customer data that was stolen in a previous hacker attack.
As previously reported, AT&T announced last week that hackers had hacked into a third-party cloud platform and obtained a large amount of customer data, including the phone numbers of cellular and landline customers, as well as call and text message records for up to six months from 1st May 2022 to 31st October 2022.
Reports say AT&T negotiated through a middleman named Reddington, who was acting on behalf of a member of the ShinyHunters hacker group.
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The hacker initially demanded $1 million, and after negotiations, AT&T eventually paid less than $400,000. The hacker then provided a video of about seven minutes to prove that they had deleted the data.
An AT&T spokesperson declined to answer whether the company paid the ransom, and the FBI and Justice Department also declined to comment on the news.
AT&T has nearly 115 million customers, and U.S. federal law enforcement said the incident could endanger national security or public safety.