A Serious Security Vulnerability In T-Mobile Caused Another Hacker Attack
Aa
Share
T-Mobile said its initial investigation indicated that data on approximately 37 million current postpaid and prepaid customer accounts had been leaked.
Hackers gained access to data again
Hackers gained access to data, including dates of birth and billing addresses, of approximately 37 million T-Mobile customers. Hackers have had access to T-Mobile data since November 25, but T-Mobile has since managed to stop malicious activities.
The company said in a regulatory filing on Thursday that it discovered the issue on January 5 and is working with law enforcement officials and cybersecurity consultants. The mobile operator said it is now notifying affected customers and believes that the most sensitive types of data, such as credit card numbers, social security numbers and account passwords, have not been compromised. The company says hackers may have obtained names, billing addresses, emails, phone numbers, dates of birth, and account numbers. The company said information such as the number of lines in the account and plan features could also be accessed.
On Friday, T-Mobile said it had notified almost every current T-Mobile customer or primary account holder who had personal information stolen. The update did not mention how many affected former or potential customers were notified. T-Mobile has created a website to inform customers about the cyber attack and the steps to take.
While this isn't T-Mobile's first data breach, many wireless industry analysts don't expect long-term effects on the carrier in terms of customer retention or attracting switchers. T-Mobile is confident that there is no longer a risk to consumers from the breach.
Fixing vulnerabilities
In today's update, the company sought to assuage consumer concerns, citing customer outreach efforts and plans to strengthen cybersecurity. The KPMG cybersecurity team will review all of T-Mobile's security and performance policies to find areas that are missing.
The problem - weak security
T-Mobile admitted to a security flaw in 2021 after personal information relating to more than 50 million of its current, former and potential customers was put up for sale online.
A 21-year-old American living in Turkey admitted to the 2021 hack and said the company's security practices had opened up an easy avenue for data theft, including social security numbers, dates of birth and phone-specific identifiers. T-Mobile's chief executive later apologized for the failure and said the company would improve data security.
T-Mobile has offered to pay $350 million to settle a class action lawsuit related to the 2021 hack. As part of the settlement, the company also pledged to spend $150 million on security technology in 2022 and this year.
In a current situation, the company says its systems were not compromised, but someone was inappropriately accessing data through an API or application programming interface that could provide some customer information.
T-Mobile share price
Friday the 13th was truly unlucky for T-Moblie stock prices. After a favorable start to the year, prices fell from that date. In the new year, the price increased from around 140.00 to nearly 150.00 (149.91). On Friday the 13th, prices started to fall to the current level of 145.14.
Source: wsj.com, finance.yahoo.com
