Data breaches are not that uncommon but is of course still a cause for concern. We entrust companies and brands with our data, sometimes unconsciously, and the least they could do is set up stringent security measures to protect all that. T-Mobile is no stranger to data breaches the past few years and the latest one may have exposed the call records of a small chunk of its subscribers. The carrier assures its customers that the breach did not include financial data, more personal information, or passwords and PINs.
The breach happened just last month sometime in December 2020 and Bleeping Computer was the first that reported about it. T-Mobile said that less than 0.2% of its subscribers were affected by it, which is around 200,000 people. Some of their account information may have been accessed by nefarious elements. This may have included phone numbers, number of lines subscribed to, and maybe even some call-related information that was collected by the carrier as part of their normal operation and service.
The other more crucial information like names on the accounts, addresses, financial data, social security numbers, passwords, etc. After they were able to shut down the “malicious, unauthorized access”, they started investigating what information was accessed and reported the issue to federal law enforcement. They also informed customers who were part of the breach through a text message.
The Verge notes that T-Mobile has actually been part of several data breaches the past few years. Back in 2018, around 2 million customers’ personal information was illegally accessed. In 2019, it was the turn of prepaid customers to have their data breached. And just last year, some of their customers’ financial information, Social Security numbers, and other account information were also hacked. It seems to be a yearly thing so maybe they need to step up their data protection.
For now, the affected T-Mobile customers are not asked to take any action. But of course it’s not a bad thing to regularly change passwords and access details just to be sure.