- Hackers exploited a vulnerability in the At&T API and between $15 and $20 million in cryptocurrency have been stolen from affected users.
- Hackers have found a way to get hold of the keys to addresses that have an ATT.net, sbcglobal.net, bellsouth.net address.
- The hackers claimed that they not only have the entire AT&T employee database, but have also found access to the VPN.
Security is essential for a good operation, and this does not only refer to the field of cryptocurrencies, but in general. However, in the ecosystem of digital assets, it does play a very important role: a failure can end in millions in losses. As is the case of AT&T, the largest telecommunications company in the world and one of the most powerful in the United States.
As reported by the site TechCrunchcomputer criminals, through the emails of the company’s clients, are accessing the accounts that they have in the centralized exchanges and steal their cryptocurrencies.
API vulnerability is exploited by hackers
From AT&T they confirmed that they had “an API problem”, which gave hackers possibilities and advantages. However, they do not know how much has been taken from the victims. A source assures that what was stolen amounts to between $15 and $20 million in cryptocurrencies
He is supposed toHackers have found a way to get hold of the keys to addresses that have an address for ATT.net, sbcglobal.net, bellsouth.net, For example.
“Hackers can do this because they have access to a part of AT&T’s internal network, which allows them to create email keys for any user. Mail keys are unique credentials that AT&T email users can use to access their accounts through email applications like Thunderbird or Outlook, but without having to use their passwords.”, highlighted the aforementioned medium.
One of the victims in the case claimed that $134,000 was stolen from his Coinbase account. Another revealed that she noticed when “my Outlook client fails to connect and quickly logged into my site [AT&T] and deleted your password and created a new one.”
AT&T customers in jeopardy?
The company did not give great details about the case that could seriously affect its reputation and thus also its finances (the shares are at the lowest point of the year with a price of $17.20). He also did not explain how many people were affected.
“The company identified the unauthorized creation of secure email keys, which can be used in some cases to access an email account without the need for a password”said spokesman Jim Kimberly. “We have updated our security controls to prevent this activity. As a precaution, we have also proactively required password resets on some email accounts. In addition we have also blocked some email accounts“The spokesperson continued.
The hackers claimed that they not only have the entire AT&T employee database, but have also found access to the VPN. However, from the company they assured that this is not true.
“There was no intrusion into any system for this exploit. The bad actors used an API access”the spokesman said.
Beyond the latter, the company confirmed that it will continue working on the case.
Unfortunately, hacks are a habit in the crypto space. Last November, $4.880 million dollars were stolen, the highest figure in 2022. In October they had been 766 million.
The attack on AT&T shows that even the largest companies are not safe. The proper control of cryptocurrencies, as is the case of a hardware wallet, is becoming increasingly relevant.
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