In a hacker attack, attackers are said to have stolen almost 100 million customer data from the US branch of T-Mobile. One demands BTC as a ransom for part of the data.
The US branch of the telecommunications giant T-Mobile is said to have been the victim of a hacker attack. That reported the online magazine Vice motherboard. As a result of a data leak, almost 100 million customer data fell into the hands of the attacker. These are currently for sale in a darknet forum. The alleged hacker labeled the data as “T-Mobile USA, Full customer info”. This involves all kinds of private data such as: telephone numbers, real names, residential addresses and smartphone serial numbers, so-called IMEI numbers. In order to check the authenticity of the data, excerpts were leaked to the editors. After an independent, internal review, the authenticity was confirmed.
However, the attacker is holding back almost 30 million pieces of data. He demands a total of 6 Bitcoin (BTC) for the issuance, under current market conditions a little more than 283,000 US dollars. Most of the data captured are social security numbers and driver’s license information. It is unclear whether customers outside the USA are also affected.
The attack had already been discovered by T-Mobile. According to the hacker, he was already flown out of the hijacked servers, but he was still able to download the data. These are now in his custody. Opposite to Vice a company spokesman was more cautious:
We are aware of the claims made in an underground forum and have actively investigated their validity. At this point in time, however, we cannot provide any further information.
T-Mobile company spokesman to Vice Motherboard
How the company plans to get the lost data back is still unclear. A request from BTC-ECHO went unanswered at the time of going to press.
T-Mobile has been the victim of hacker attacks several times
It is not the first time that T-Mobile has fallen victim to cyber criminals. In February, a fraud victim sued the cellphone company after a SIM swap attack drove it to $ 450,000 in Bitcoin. In this type of attack, attackers steal cell phone numbers and use them to hijack people’s online financial and social media accounts. They intercept automatic messages or phone calls that are relevant for two-factor authentication. T-Mobile was specifically accused of failing to introduce adequate security measures to prevent unauthorized access to its customers’ accounts.
In addition, T-Mobile had to go through a similar process a year ago when a CEO of a crypto service provider sued the company. After a SIM swap, his company lost nearly $ 9 million in digital assets.
With digitization, cybercrime is logically increasing. It is, if you will, the dark side of digital progress. Law enforcement is like a constant cat-and-mouse game. Investigators are also increasingly resorting to blockchain technology in law enforcement. You can find out how this works here.