US telecoms giant AT&T has written to customers after it discovered an employee gained access to their personal data, including driver’s licence numbers and social security numbers.
AT&T has written to around 1,600 customers informing them that credit monitoring services will be offered to those affected.
In the letter AT&T said that the employee in question has been dismissed.
“We recently determined that one of our employees violated our strict privacy and security guidelines by accessing your account without authorisation in August 2014 and while doing so would have been able to view and may have obtained your account information including your social security number and driver’s license number.”
AT&T has offered a year’s free credit monitoring with CSID and has recommended a number of steps consumers can take with authorities in the US, including the Federal Trade Commission.
The data breach is just one of many to rock the US in recent months, including a major credit card breach at Home Depot, cyber attacks at JP Morgan Chase & Co as well as the hacking of Hollywood celebrities iCloud accounts.
Data breach image via Shutterstock
