Hackers have obtained the credit card details of almost 19,000 online shoppers from telecoms giant AT&T.

The US company says it has notified shoppers at its online store of the security breach, which affected people buying high-speed DSL internet items.

Security was breached at the weekend, the company says, and online stores were quickly shut down in response. AT&T says it will reimburse customers for any fraudulent transactions and pay for any necessary credit services.

There were no indications that fraudulent transactions had been carried out before the stolen information came to light, AT&T said.

The company's online store was shut within hours of the incident. AT&T is trying to contact the customers, spokesman Walt Sharp said. Only those who bought DSL equipment from the online store were affected, and Customers' Social Security numbers weren't exposed, he said.

The disclosure is the latest in a series of security breaches. According to the Privacy Rights Clearinghouse, about 91 million records containing sensitive information have been taken since February 15, 2005.

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