AT&T Paid a Hacker $370k to Delete Stolen Phone Records

AT&T paid a hacker over $370,000 to delete stolen phone records of millions of customers. The hacker, part of the ShinyHunters group, received the ransom in May and provided proof of deletion to AT&T. The stolen data included call and text metadata of AT&T customers and others who communicated with them. The hacker claimed to have wiped the complete dataset, but some risks may persist. The breach was discovered indirectly through a security researcher, Reddington, who facilitated negotiations between the hackers and victims. The hacker responsible for the breach, John Erin Binns, allegedly shared samples of the data with others. Despite the payment and deletion, there are concerns that some data samples may still exist. Binns, already indicted for a 2021 T-Mobile hack, was arrested in Turkey in May for an unrelated breach. AT&T learned about the breach three months ago but delayed public disclosure due to potential national security concerns. The FBI is reviewing the data to assess potential harm before public disclosure.