Data Breach Alert: T-Mobile 100 Million Impacted
The Associated Press reported yesterday that communications giant T-Mobile confirmed there was unauthorized access to ‘some T-Mobile data’ but that the company is still determining the scope of the breach and who was affected. T-Mobile is actively investigating the leak after someone took to an online underground forum offering to sell personal information from more than 100 million cellphone users.
According to Vice’s Motherboard report, the data came from T-Mobile servers and “includes social security numbers, phone numbers, names, physical addresses, unique IMEI (International Mobile Equipment Identity) numbers, and driver license information.” Motherboard also reported that they had seen samples of the data, and confirmed they contained accurate information on T-Mobile customers.
The seller on the underground forum was asking for 6 bitcoin, which is about $270,000, for a subset of the data containing 30 million social security numbers and driver licenses. The hacker said that they are privately selling the rest of the data at the moment. For more in-depth details about the hack, you can read the KrebsonSecurity article HERE.
A statement on the T-Mobile website reads “We are confident that the entry point used to gain access has been closed, and we are continuing our deep technical review of the situation across our systems to identify the nature of any data that was illegally accessed. This investigation will take some time but we are working with the highest degree of urgency.” The statement also included that the company takes the protection of their customers very seriously and that T-Mobile is “conducting an extensive analysis alongside with forensic experts to understand the validity of these claims, and are coordinating with law enforcement.”
If you or a family member has been a T-Mobile customer and suspect your data has been compromised, please contact us as soon as possible. We are always available for you 24/7/365 at 888.966.GUARD (4827). Our Member Services can also be emailed at [email protected].
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