TechCrunch Minute: AT&T data breach prompts millions of passcodes to be reset

Death, taxes, and regular, terrifying cybersecurity leaks. Those are the facts of life, as the latest AT&T data breach is teaching us yet again. A TechCrunch investigation into leaked customer data from the American telco giant has led to AT&T resetting certain customer account passcodes to prevent them from being at risk.

The root of the security weakness is massive, and AT&T’s data breach included a leaked dataset concerning more than 70 million former and current AT&T account holders. Only a fraction are still current, but the scale of the leaked dataset that TechCrunch dug into makes it plain that despite huge amounts of work and investment, there are still regular, exploitable breaches, which are dangerous for consumers.

While it’s great to doff our cap at TechCrunch’s crack team of cybersecurity journalists — the doomer desk, if you will — it would be better if they had a bit less to report on, instead of the firehose of hacks, leaks, and compromises they uncover and write about daily. Hit play, let’s talk about it.