T-Mobile has warned millions of its customers that a cybercriminal has used an application programming interface (API) to gain access to some sensitive data.
In a warning posted on the company’s website, T-Mobile attempted to downplay the incident by saying that “basic customer information (almost all of which is widely available in marketing databases or directories)” was obtained.
However, the data includes people’s names, billing addresses, email addresses, phone numbers, dates of birth and account numbers, all valuable information needed for identity theft (opens in a new tab) attacks, phishing and similar social engineering attacks.
Millions of victims
The company confirmed that passwords, payment card information, social security numbers, government ID numbers, as well as financial account information remained secure. He also said his investigation found that there was no evidence of a breach of his networks or systems.
While the warning does not say how many people were affected and what types of accounts were affected, a total of 37 million customers’ data was accessed, including prepaid and postpaid customers.
The attack took place between November 25, 2022 and January 5, 2023. It was on January 6 that T-Mobile finally cut off access to cybercriminals.
The company reported the attack to both law enforcement and federal agencies in the United States, whose investigation is ongoing. T-Mobile also added that it has started notifying customers whose data may have been compromised.
The history of the German telecommunications giant in terms of data breaches is far from perfect. The company has had many incidents over the years, including one in 2018, one in 2019, and at least three in 2020. In 2021, it was reported that the company paid hundreds of thousands of dollars to keep its sensitive data from being leaked to network, which happened anyway, and a year later, in 2022, he confirmed that he had been targeted by the Lapsus$ blackmail gang.
By: Beeping Computer (opens in a new tab)