What you need to know
- T-Mobile is investigating claims that 100 million users had their data stolen from its servers.
- A forum post claims to be from someone ready to sell the data.
Carrier T-Mobile is investigating claims that 100 million people had their data stolen right off its servers after someone posted to a forum saying they had the information for sale.
As reported by Vice, a forum member didn't explicitly say that the data came from T-Mobile initially, but later did confirm that it originated from the carrier's servers.
"T-Mobile USA. Full customer info," the seller told Motherboard in an online chat. The seller said they compromised multiple servers related to T-Mobile.
The data includes various pieces of information that could be useful to someone trying to steal an identity, including "social security numbers, phone numbers, names, physical addresses, unique IMEI numbers, and driver licenses information."
The forum member was asking for 6 bitcoin, or around $270,000, for some of the data including 30 million social security numbers and driver licenses. The rest of the data, Vice reports, is being sold privately.
T-Mobile's statement on the subject reads "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." The hacker noted that they have now lost access to the servers they stole the data from, pointing out that they had already downloaded it for safekeeping locally.
T-Mobile has long been a popular option for people on the lookout for a great iPhone carrier. But security issues like this might give new customers pause, not that the competition is invulnerable to their own security issues.
