Alert T-Mobile Hacked

[Neal]

From an email news source I get (Stocktwits):

Last week, rumors that T-Mobile had been breached floated around hacker forums. The company quickly confirmed that somebody did gain access to its servers, but failed to spill the deets… until today. ?

What started as a murmur is now a loud roar. The company confirmed the data breach, which revealed sensitive information on at least 47 million users. The leak includes social security numbers, phone numbers, full names, dates of birth, physical addresses, IMEI numbers for phones, driver license information, and more.

This is the fifth time that T-Mobile has been hacked in the last decade. Maybe it’s time to give the entire cybersecurity department a pink slip? ?‍

T-Mobile is still collecting information on which users were affected by the hack, but the company knows its breach included both past and present users. A large number of users have been asked to “proactively change their account PIN” to avoid SIM-swapping attacks, but calling that a proactive measure is ironic considering that the hack has already happened.

At this point, users can’t do much but wait to hear their fate. It might be a good idea to freeze your credit, though. In the meantime, we’ll be getting popcorn for the inevitable class action lawsuit!

 

["EZ"]

I know you don't like T-Mobile Neal, but I don't think they should be made a scape goat because of the data breach. I've seen many many companies in the last 10 years admit to being breached and some have done their best to cover it up but the news finally came out. I think this is the new normal. It's not IF companies will get hacked but WHEN will they get hacked? There is no stopping these cyber criminals. They are too good. Just about the time you get your security fixed it becomes obsolete almost immediately.

I have an account with Life Lock just for this very reason. I get alerts by text anytime someone accesses my data or tries to open an account using my data. They will also spend up to a million dollars to get my personal identity restored if it is ever stolen. It's about all you can do. As someone that travels for my job I am handing my credit cards to people I don't know all day long. My credit cards have been hacked or the numbers stolen 6 times in 8 years. There's nothing you can do to prevent it, other than the obvious stuff but so far my credit card companies have all been wonderful to deal with. They have Fed-Ex'd me a new card over night each time it has happened. They have taken any charge off the card that I say wasn't mine. I can't complain in that regard. But if an internet company gets their data hacked and my credit card numbers get sold to some low life, what can you do? Not much really. Just call the credit card company and start over. I highly recommend Life Lock though. It really helps you monitor your credit. I have a 850+FICO score so I want to protect that at all costs. But it's going to happen again. I know it will. It's just a matter of time.

 

[redbaron]

Sorry...but tMobile is to blame.
Home depot was at fault
Target was at fault

The list goes on. The companies overlook IT security, see it as a pain, and unnecessary expense. It used to be the kiss of death to have this kind of breach. Now it's acceptable by society.

Pure negligence. Often the IT heads are screaming months before the breach, but the chief chair warmers want to meet their targets so no money for IT needs.

When the breach happens, insurance pays the bill, head of IT is fired and Cheif Chair Warmer gets his bonus.

 

[redbaron]

The hackers are not too good...IT department's have major flaws. Social engineering is the #1 flaw.

I have handled many cases after the hack. It's never a genius on the hacking end, it's a obvious door left open.

Very few companies involve experts like myself until after the hack. And most ignore my action plan for future protection, as it costs too much to secure.

I have had several frequent fliers over the years.

Those companies that do take it serious are in a position to not be hacked, and not lose data.

 

[marc2912]

I work in tech and specifically web technologies and I don't know that I'd agree that this is the new norm and that there is no stopping these cyber criminals. I think this is the bi product of a lax system where there is no laws governing what data companies may keep, how they keep it, nor how they are liable if they are breached. Every time an audit is done and the results are made public it's clearly shown that best practices were not followed.

When companies like Equifax, who decide your credit worthiness and future, leak your information and have to pay < $600M for leaking the data of over 147 million Americans while showing revenue of $3.36B the same year it's very clear the system is not working or that it's not setup to protect the end user.

While I do agree that from a single person point of view we're not in a place to have huge immediate impact I do think it's our responsibility to keep pushing for change. We do this by talking loudly, sharing knowledge, reaching out to our representatives and voting.

Lastly, yes protect yourself and your credit.

I would though say that lifelock might not be the best out there for you... They've been shown over and over to lie about their ability and have deceptive tactics and had FTC orders against them and then got fined for not following those orders. LifeLock agrees to pay $100 million for allegedly violating FTC order
I mean I don't know if you remember but in a publicity stunt their CEO thought he'd share his social because it's useless to criminals if you use lifelock. Well his identity was stolen 13 times. The Day LifeLock Got Hacked - WriterAccess which led FTC chairman to say “In truth, the protection they provided left such a large hole … that you could drive that truck through it.”

There are numerous ways though that you can protect yourself, smartly freezing your credit (all 3) at all times as mentioned by @Neal is a good start. There are also countless "free" services that will let you know of changes on your credit. I added quotes to "free" because while there are no tangible cost to you they do use your data to market you loans, cc, etc. I'm not going to tell you use one or another, they all have their pros and cons and I recommend you do your own research and decide what level of comfort works for you.

 

[CaptainGizmo]

I have a 850+FICO score

Some interesting info here, and I've experienced the same issues...but forget all that...

I wanna know how EZ gets OVER a perfect FICO score!! ?

 

[redbaron]

Some interesting info here, and I've experienced the same issues...but forget all that...

I wanna know how EZ gets OVER a perfect FICO score!! ?

FICO scores actually can range up to 900 depending on the report.

It is very confusing. The score you get personally is different that what I see when I pull your report commercially.

 

["EZ"]

FICO scores actually can range up to 900 depending on the report.

It is very confusing. The score you get personally is different that what I see when I pull your report commercially.

All my credit cards as well as my Bank show me my FICO score for free each month. 900 is perfect. I'll never get there. LOL. But most of my cards show me between 830-850 each month. Out of the 5 that show me the score, none of them are ever the same. LOL. Must be some differences in how the score is figured.

 

[Neal]

Let's keep this thread on topic please.

 

[Joe Hogan]

Hackers come in all types, a recent Bitcoin hack resulting in a $600M theft.
The Hackers returned most if not all the money.
The recent fuel pipeline ransomware attack has gotten the three letter Agencies to publicly use some of their tools to track transactions.

Hackers return nearly half of the $600 million they stole in one of the biggest crypto heists

Hackers exploited a vulnerability in a protocol called Poly Network stealing more than $600 million worth of cryptocurrency.

www.cnbc.com

Update: Award Bug bounty...

Hackers behind $610M crypto heist return money, may get ‘bug bounty’

The hackers who pulled off the largest cryptocurrency heist in history “for fun” have returned the money — and the company that they stole from wants to pay them for their service. The decent…

nypost.com