AT&T, Snowflake shares drop after hacking incident

Shares of AT&T (NYSE:) and Snowflake (NYSE:) tumbled today following the telecommunications giant’s disclosure of a significant cybersecurity breach. In a press release issued on Friday, AT&T revealed that hackers had accessed and copied customer call logs from a third-party cloud platform between April 14 and April 25, 2024.

AT&T shares are down around 3% premarket, while SNOW is currently down more than 4%.

AT&T is said to have confirmed that the most recent compromise was stolen from Snowflake during recent data thefts targeting the company’s customers.

In its press release, AT&T said the compromised data, spanning from May 1 to October 31, 2022, and January 2, 2023, includes records of calls and texts for nearly all of AT&T’s wireless customers and mobile virtual network operators (MVNOs).

While the breach did not expose personal information like Social Security numbers or dates of birth, it did reveal call and text interaction data, including telephone numbers, call counts, and durations.

“The records identify the telephone numbers an AT&T or MVNO cellular number interacted with during these periods. For a subset of records, one or more cell site identification number(s) associated with the interactions are also included,” said the company.

AT&T said it has assured customers that the content of calls and texts remains confidential. However, experts warn that the leaked data could be exploited by scammers and identity thieves.

The company has implemented additional security measures and is cooperating with law enforcement to apprehend those responsible. The revelation of the breach has raised concerns about the security of cloud-based platforms and data privacy.

“Our top priority, as always, is our customers. We will provide notice to current and former customers whose information was involved along with resources to help protect their information,” added AT&T.

Snowflake, a cloud data platform provider, has seen its shares decline alongside AT&T, reflecting investor anxiety about the potential implications of the incident.