Jan 16 (Reuters) - FBI leaders have warned that hackers
who breached AT&T's ( T ) system last year likely stole months
of agents' call and text logs, prompting an urgent effort to
safeguard confidential informants' identities, Bloomberg News
reported on Thursday.
The breach, believed to have compromised all FBI devices
using the bureau's AT&T ( T ) public safety service, included agents'
mobile phone numbers and the numbers they used to call and text,
according to a document reviewed by Bloomberg and its interviews
with a current and a former law enforcement official.
Last July, AT&T ( T ) said that the company suffered a massive
hacking incident as data from about 109 million customer
accounts containing records of calls and texts from 2022 was
illegally downloaded in April.
FBI officials informed agents nationwide that details about
their use on the telecom carrier's network were likely among
billions of records stolen, the report said, adding that while
the hacked records did not expose the content of communications,
they could link investigators to their secret sources, the
report added.
AT&T ( T ) and the FBI did not immediately respond to Reuters'
requests for comment.
The breach follows broader concerns about cyber-espionage
targeting U.S. telecom networks. On Jan. 10, U.S. national
security adviser Jake Sullivan said that the U.S. had taken
steps in response to Chinese-linked cyber-espionage operations
against U.S. telecoms firms.
U.S. telecoms firms Verizon and AT&T ( T ) said late last
year their networks had been targeted by the cyber hackers, but
were now secure as they worked with the U.S. government and law
enforcement.