Current and Former AT&T Customers:

This update is for you.

One of the most dangerous cyber breaches ever involves the theft of personal information about eight million current and 65 million former AT&T customers.

CNET says the stolen information includes AT&T customer names, addresses, social security numbers, date of birth, account numbers, and passcodes. The theft of passcodes, in particular, is dangerous.

Visit haveibeenpwned.com to see if you are a victim and att.com/accountsafety for updates from AT&T.

Meantime, here are three things you should do, whether you’re listed as a victim or not.

AT&T logo credit: Casimiro – stock.adobe.com

Roku customers: heads up! 500,000 customers of the streaming video service are being notified that their accounts are breached, allowing scammers to log in and make purchases. It turns out that affected customers used the same passwords on their Roku accounts as other online accounts that have suffered breaches.

GM, Honda, Kia, BMW, Mitsubishi, Hyundai, Subaru, and others are accused of selling information about users’ driving habits without explicit permission, sometimes leading to higher car insurance rates or cancellations. Motor Trend says Car companies say they can collect driver data because users clicked “agree” to the terms and conditions when they signed up for OnStar, HondaLink, Mitsubishi Driving Score, Toyota Insure Connect, and Kia Connect. Check the privacy settings on your car’s app or infotainment system to opt-out.

As of April, the Facebook-owned social media platform Threads has overtaken X (formerly Twitter) in popularity. About one in three teenagers is now on Threads, but that’s fewer than those who use YouTube, TikTok, Instagram, or Snapchat.

Teachers have learned how to tell if students use artificial intelligence to write essays. They hide instructions to include unrelated words like “Frankenstein” and “grizzly bears,” color the text white so it doesn’t appear, and make it very small. AI will automatically include those words in the essay it creates. But if the words don’t appear, AI likely didn’t create it.

One more thing...

According to Hive, two-thirds of us check our email regularly on vacation.

Visit Iceland has created this new promotional video suggesting how visitors can disconnect from their screens and still appear to respond.

Click the play button to play the video.

Answers to readers'
cybersecurity questions

“Does my phone need to be locked when I am at home?”
Password-protecting your phone may seem like a hassle, but it’s one of the most important ways to safeguard your personal information. If you lose the phone, accessing what’s on it is much harder. Your phone is reasonably safe at home, but if you unlock it there, you’ll likely forget to lock it again when you leave.
“We sent our state tax returns via certified mail in mid-March, but they were never received. Our social security numbers and birth dates are on those forms. What should we do?”

The Post Office can tell you what happened to the package. Then, contact your state’s Department of Revenue and provide them with the date you mailed the return, the mailing address you used, and a copy of the receipt. They can advise you on what steps to take next, which will likely involve filing a replacement tax return. As for personal information, monitor your credit report and consider freezing your credit, which makes it harder for criminals to open new accounts in your name.

“If you are on a website and click on the chat box for help, how can you tell if the chat box is an employee or if the tech support person is legitimate?”
End the chat if they try to pressure you into buying something, downloading software, or providing personal information not directly related to your question.
Send us your cybersecurity question for possible use in a future newsletter.

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