T-Mobile CEO: Data-Security Breach Was ‘Humbling’

A T-Mobile store in Philadelphia

By Paul Riegler on 28 August 2021
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The CEO of T-Mobile made a public apology Friday for the recent security breach that allowed a hacker to access over 50 million customer records, and promised to take steps to take the company’s cyber security efforts “to the next level.”

In an open letter to customers, Mike Sievert said that the cyberattack was “humbling for all of us,” adding that he was “truly sorry.” Sievert further said that the company “didn’t live up to the expectations we have for ourselves to protect our customers.”

The Bellevue, Washington-based company said it was partnering with KPMG as well as cybersecurity firm Mandiant to take stock of its network and improve security after a hacker was able to make off with millions of customer records that included sensitive information such as Social Security numbers and dates of birth.

Meanwhile, the hacker who accessed the T-Mobile servers, John Binns, a 21-year-old American who moved to Turkey a few years earlier, said, referring to T-Mobile, “their security is awful,” in an interview with the Wall Street Journal.

Binns had said that he used “an unprotected router” to get into the T-Mobile corporate network.

Meanwhile, the company says that it has contacted nearly every customer whose data was compromised in the hack.

It is offering affected customers a variety of tools and services to help protect from fraud, including two years of identity protection services from McAfee, recommending best practices such as telling customers to reset their PINs, recommending that customers sign-up for T-Mobile’s scam-blocking service, Scam Shield, and offering postpaid customer access to its Account Takeover Protection service.

(Photo: Accura Media Group)

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