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On August 29, AT&T said the hackers hacked into one of its computer systems and accessed the personal data of thousands of customers who use online stores. AT&T.

AT&T also said that information that was illegally accessed in this case included a credit card number. The attack affected about 19,000 people who bought equipment for high-speed DSL Internet connections through AT&T's website.

Priscilla Hill-Ardoin, AT&T privacy director, said: ' We are really sorry about this incident. AT&T will work with the law to resolve the problem . '

The break-in occurred last weekend after the online store closed and was discovered a few hours later. The telecommunications company quickly notified credit card companies, and is also contacting affected customers via e-mail, phone and mail.

This is the latest in a series of data security breaches. According to the general information of the Privacy Rights Clearinghouse, since early last year more than 90 million personal records have been exploited in dozens of illegal infringements.

AT&T has offered to pay for credit card monitoring services for affected customers. The company also has a toll-free phone number for customers who are affected by this incident in case they want to know any more information.

AT&T was founded in the 1870s. One of the founders of the company was Alexander Graham Bell - the father of today's phone. At the end of October 2005, SBC Communications bought AT&T for $ 16 billion.