Shares in AT&T dipped after the telecom company said that call and text message records from almost all of its wireless customers were stolen in a 2022 hacking incident, which involved cloud software maker Snowflake. Prior to the hacking disclosure, AT&T stock had been up 12% in 2024.
On the stock market today, AT&T stock dipped 0.3% to 18.80. Telecom companies have been frequent targets of hackers. T-Mobile US has been hacked three times going back to 2021.
Snowflake Cloud Platform Involved
In a securities filing, AT&T, which has 90 million wireless subscribers, said the hacker downloaded call and text-message information. The company said the stolen records included details about how different phone numbers interacted with each other but didn't include the contents of calls or messages.
In the regulatory filing, the telecom giant said the data was stored on a "third-party cloud platform." AT&T later clarified that the cloud services provider was Snowflake, said a RBC Capital analyst.
"We were able to catch up with Snowflake management briefly this morning who stated that the company has a great relationship with AT&T," said RBC Capital analyst Matthew Hedberg in a report. "Importantly, we don't believe the incident reflects weakness/vulnerability in Snowflake environments based on a Mandiant threat intelligence report published in June. The report stated that the recent string of Snowflake instance-related attacks were not a result of a breach in Snowflake's enterprise environment, but rather compromised customer credentials."
No AT&T Customer Data On Dark Web
Hedberg added that Snowflake this week released a new authentication policy for cloud platform users.
Snowflake stock fell 0.8% to near 137 on Friday.
Meanwhile, AT&T said personal subscriber information, such as names, credit card data or Social Security numbers were not involved, AT&T said.
Also, AT&T hasn't found evidence that the information has been available on the "dark web" where hackers usually sell personal data.
AT&T said it was cooperating with law enforcement. Law enforcement authorities arrested at least one person, media reports said.
AT&T Stock: Technical Ratings
Meanwhile, AT&T stock holds an entry point of 17.88 from a double-bottom base. The telecom stock had traded above a 5% buy zone before the hacking disclosure.
Further, AT&T stock holds a Relative Strength Rating of 85 out of a best-possible 99, according to the IBD Stock Checkup. The best stocks tend to have RS ratings of 80 or better.
T-Mobile stock has climbed 11% in 2024. Shares in Verizon Communications are up nearly 10%.
What's more, Goldman Sachs recently said a buyback for Verizon stock is possible in 2025.
Follow Reinhardt Krause on Twitter @reinhardtk_tech for updates on artificial intelligence, cybersecurity and cloud computing.
