NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- Personal data, including credit card information, of thousands of AT&T customers was stolen by hackers over the weekend, the company reported late Tuesday.

The breach, which affected customers who purchased DSL equipment through AT&T's (Charts) Web store was discovered within hours and the online store was shut down immediately, said AT&T in a press release.

AT&T said it was sending notifications to nearly 19,000 customers, and that it would pay for credit monitoring services for the affected customers.

"We recognize that there is an active market for illegally obtained personal information. We are committed to both protecting our customers' privacy and to weeding out and punishing the violators," said Priscilla Hill- Ardoin, chief privacy officer for AT&T, in a statement.

"We deeply regret this incident and we intend to pay for credit monitoring services for customers whose accounts have been impacted. We will work closely with law enforcement to bring these data thieves to account."

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