Following a report by Vice’s Motherboard that claimed that over 100 million T-Mobile customers have been affected in a data breach, the telecommunications company is now investigating the incident and such claims. The company confirmed its investigations on Sunday, August 15, 2021.
Motherboard was the first to report the incident to the public, with the team reportedly in contact with the hacker and seller of the personal data of T-Mobile consumers.
The Verge reports that this incident is not the first time T-Mobile has been targeted in a cyberattack. In has been involved in various data breaches, with the most recent attacks happening both in March and December 2020.
Prior to the 2020 data breach, the telecommunications providers were also hacked in 2018, where hackers obtained the personal information of around two million consumers, and again in 2019 where its prepaid customers have had their personal information compromised.
Based on the findings of the researchers after sampling the data provided on an online forum, Motherboard concluded that there was, indeed, a massive data breach that occurred.
While the team behind Motherboard said that the forum does not mention the telecommunications firm, the hacker in contact with Vice revealed that the personal data they have obtained came from T-Mobile servers.
Among the personal information compromised include the names of customers, their respective phone numbers, physical addresses, and Social Security numbers. In addition, the customers’ driver’s licenses information has also been made vulnerable by the attack, alongside their unique IMEI numbers.
For a part of the leaked information, the hacker is reportedly asking for 6 bitcoin, equivalent to $270,000. Motherboard said that this amount only pertains to 30 million driver licenses and Social Security numbers as the rest of the information is being sold privately.
Following the reveal, a threat actor on the forum said that they have been banned from accessing the servers after T-Mobile has been made aware of the incident. However, Vice said that the hackers have downloaded the data and it seems to have been “backed up in multiple places.”
The seller on the forum said, “I think they already found out because we lost access to the backdoored servers.”
In a statement to Reuters, a representative from the telecommunications provider said that, “We are aware of claims made in an underground forum and have been actively investigating their validity. We do not have any additional information to share at this time.”
