AT&T accused of security failures

A former hacker-turned online security consultant has accused his managed hosting service provider of failing to secure his data.

According to high-profile hacker Kevin Mintick, AT&T have failed to act on concerns he raised about their security procedures after his personal details were published on the internet.

Mr Mintick, who served time in prison for his cybercrime exploits, told the Register: "They can't seem to secure my account."

"And then instead of doing something about it, they try to kill the messenger and want to boot me off their network when all I want them to do is to secure my account so no one gets access to my phone records," he added.

He said that there are so many ways into AT&T network that the web hosting service provider has to take some responsibility for its failings.

According to Computer Weekly's Darren Thomson, the increasing number of threats from hackers means businesses need to make disaster recovery planning a priority – even if they outsource their IT to a web host.

Written by Debra Hastings-Henry