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AT&T says hackers stole 2022 call and text data from 'nearly all' cell customers

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AT&T says hackers stole 2022 call and text data from 'nearly all' cell customers

AT&T announced on Friday that cellular customers’ text and call data from 2022 was illegally downloaded onto a third-party cloud platform back in April.

Pau Barrena/AFP via Getty Images


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Pau Barrena/AFP via Getty Images

AT&T says hackers stole data from “nearly all” of its cellular customers over several months in 2022 and downloaded it illegally onto a third-party cloud platform.

The Dallas-based telecommunications company announced the massive data breach in a regulatory filing and press release on Friday morning, which said it believes the data is no longer publicly available.

“AT&T has taken additional cybersecurity measures in response to this incident including closing off the point of unlawful access,” it added.

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The company wrote that it first learned of the incident in April, but the U.S. Justice Department determined in May and again in June that “a delay in providing public disclosure was warranted” until now.

AT&T’s investigation found that an unspecified number of “threat actors” exfiltrated files in April containing the records of phone calls and text messages of “nearly all AT&T cellular customers” between May and October 2022, as well as a smaller number of customers on Jan. 2, 2023.

An AT&T spokesperson described the information taken as “aggregated metadata,” holding information about the calls and texts but not their contents.

The records identify other telephone numbers with which affected customers interacted, including AT&T landline numbers, as well as counts of those calls and texts and the total call durations for specific days or months.

“For a subset of the records, one or more cell site ID numbers associated with the interactions are also included,” it adds.

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AT&T says the data does not include the substance or time stamps of those calls and texts, nor birthdays, social security numbers or other “personally identifiable information.” Though there is a catch.

“While the data does not include customer names, there are often ways, using publicly available online tools, to find the name associated with a specific telephone number,” it cautions.

AT&T says it is working with law enforcement to arrest the perpetrators, and “understands that at least one person has been apprehended” so far.

The company says it will notify impacted users by text, email or U.S. mail, and has also set up a webpage where current and former customers can check to see if their information was involved.

Those affected can follow an online process to obtain the phone numbers of their calls and texts in the downloaded data. AT&T says the option to request that information will be in place through the end of this year.

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And for those concerned about potential phishing and online fraud, it offers some evergreen advice, including not replying to a text from an unknown sender with personal details and making sure websites are secure by looking for the “s” after “http” in the address.

It adds that customers who suspect suspicious text activity should forward the message to AT&T, and report any suspected fraud on their AT&T wireless account to its team.

This is not the first data breach that AT&T has reported this year.

It said in March that it had reset the passcodes of about 7.6 million users after it discovered a dataset on the “dark web” containing Social Security numbers and other personal information of some 70 million current and former account holders.

Separately, AT&T gave $5 to certain customers affected by a nearly 12-hour nationwide outage back in February.

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Verizon, Ticketmaster, Dell and Bank of America are among the other companies that have reported major data breaches this year, affecting millions of people altogether.

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Video: Why the Supreme Court Struck Down Trump’s Tariffs

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Video: Why the Supreme Court Struck Down Trump’s Tariffs

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Our reporter Ann E. Marimow describes the rationale of the Supreme Court’s 6-to-3 ruling to strike down President Trump’s sweeping tariffs.

By Ann E. Marimow, Sutton Raphael, June Kim and Whitney Shefte

February 23, 2026

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Suspected gunman identified after being shot dead at Mar-a-Lago – US politics live

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Suspected gunman identified after being shot dead at Mar-a-Lago – US politics live

Suspected gunman was ‘very quiet’ and came from a family of ‘big Trump supporters’, cousin says

The New York Times is reporting that Austin Tucker Martin graduated from Union Pines High School in Cameron, North Carolina, in 2023, and started an artwork company last June that specialised in handmade drawings of golf courses.

According to its website, Fresh Sky Illustrations:

double quotation markIs an artwork company that mainly focuses on bringing to life the hopeful feeling of being on a golf course by illustrating golf course scenes and providing framed copies of handmade works in various golf course gift shops while handling personal commissions on the side.

Combining the aesthetics of the sunny outdoors, and old digital aesthetics from the mid 2000s, Fresh Sky Illustrations hopes to awaken a sense of hope and comfort with this handcrafted webpage design.

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Austin Tucker Martin was described by his cousin as quiet, afraid of guns and from a family of avid Trump supporters. Photograph: Social Media

Martin, who lived in a part of North Carolina renowned for its golf courses, was a registered voter, although state voting records indicate he wasn’t affiliated to a particular party.

The 21-year-old was described by his cousin Braeden Fields as “very quiet” and inexperienced with guns.

“He doesn’t even know how to use a gun. He’s never used a gun,” Fields, 19, told ABC station WTVD hours after Martin had been killed.

Fields said the family are “big Trump supporters” and that Martin has an older brother in the military.

Martin “never really talked about … he didn’t want to get into politics,” Fields said, adding that Martin worked at a golf course, preparing it for the season, and liked to send his paychecks to charity.

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“We grew up together, practically,” Fields said. “I never, I wouldn’t believe that he would do something like this. Mind-blowing.”

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Sara Braun

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Major institutions of higher education in the US are reckoning with the latest release of the Epstein files after discovering the disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein’s relationships with board members, professors and administrators on campuses across the country.

In some cases, professors have been placed under review, research centers closed or conferences canceled. Students and staff have responded in different ways, including petitions, open letters and campus forums.

The Guardian spoke with students, employees and alumni at some of the universities implicated.

On 9 February, faculty at Barnard College, the private women’s liberal arts’ college affiliated with Columbia University, published an open letter signed by more than 70 faculty members calling on the university to “acknowledge and investigate” recently released correspondence between Epstein and Francine LeFrak, a prominent donor and member of the school’s board of trustees. LeFrak appears in the Epstein files 15 times, according to reporting from the Barnard Bulletin.

In one appearance, LeFrak asked – in 2010 – to join a close friend and Epstein during “the holidays”; in another, later that year, she invited Epstein “as her guest” to a trip to Rwanda, where she founded an initiative that provides occupational training and employment for female survivors of that country’s genocide.

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The letter notes that the connection between Epstein and LeFrak is “repugnant”, particularly since the interaction took place following Epstein’s 2008 conviction of soliciting prostitution from a minor.

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Video: Armed Man Is Shot and Killed at Mar-a-Lago, Authorities Say

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Video: Armed Man Is Shot and Killed at Mar-a-Lago, Authorities Say

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Armed Man Is Shot and Killed at Mar-a-Lago, Authorities Say

Officers fatally shot Austin Tucker Martin, 21, after he entered a secure perimeter at Mar-a-Lago, officials said. The authorities said he was carrying what appeared to be a shotgun and a fuel canister.

He was ordered to drop those two pieces of equipment that he had with him, at which time he put down the gas can, raised the shotgun to a shooting position. At that point in time, the deputy and the two Secret Service agents fired their weapons and neutralized the threat. He is deceased at the scene.

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Officers fatally shot Austin Tucker Martin, 21, after he entered a secure perimeter at Mar-a-Lago, officials said. The authorities said he was carrying what appeared to be a shotgun and a fuel canister.

By Cynthia Silva

February 22, 2026

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