Huge T-Mobile Breach Affects 3 Million: What to Do Now
by Monica Chin Aug 24, 2018, 5:18 AM
T-Mobile has announced that on Thursday, it discovered and shut down a brief security breach.
 Credit: Jonathan Weiss / Shutterstock.com
While it caught the breach quickly, T-Mobile told Motherboard that hackers were able to grab the data of almost three million people. Personal data including customers' name, billing zip code, phone number, email address, account number and account type were compromised.
Still, it could be worse: T-Mobile claims that none of your financial data, social security numbers, or passwords were compromised. T-Mobile is not aware of the identities of the hackers involved, and whether they are government- or criminal-affiliated. The company told Motherboard that the attackers were part of "an international group."
"We truly regret that this incident occurred and are so sorry for any inconvenience this has caused you," the announcement reads.
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In the announcement late Thursday night, the company claimed it would "shortly" be sending texts to customers who were affected.
This isn't the first time T-Mobile customers have had to worry about fraud. In February, the company texted warnings to its post-paid customer base about a sudden uptick in port-out frauds (a scam where a criminal impersonates you to port your number to another wireless carrier). This led to multiple customers' bank accounts being compromised and, in some cases, drained.
What to Do NowIf you're among the customers whose personal data were compromised in this breach, even though the carrier claims no passwords were impacted, it's still a good idea to change yours. Once a hacker has your account number, phone number, and email address, it's easier for them to obtain your login information.
And while it's probably not necessary since payment information and social-security numbers weren't taken here, you can also sign up for an identity-monitoring service if you're very worried. |
