T-Mobile Investigates Data Theft for Which Hacker Demands Ransom in Bitcoin

T-Mobile announced on Sunday that they are investigating a data theft affecting over 100 million users, based on a claim posted on a forum. Specifically, the hacker who stole the data is demanding bitcoins in exchange for it through the forum. T-Mobile is not specifically mentioned on the forum, but the hacker claims that the data originates from them. This data is strictly confidential, including phone numbers, social security numbers, addresses, names, driver’s license information, and more.

For the data that includes driver’s license and insurance information, the hacker is demanding six bitcoins, totaling $274,000. According to Motherboard, the hacker stated that they are privately offering to return other data. However, they also mentioned that a copy of the data has long been made.

T-Mobile has no additional information regarding the exchange, but it is known that an increasing number of criminals are demanding cryptocurrencies for ransom as transactions are anonymous or very difficult to trace. In the U.S., the Biden administration plans to intensify efforts to track down cryptocurrencies used in cyberattacks and plans to offer rewards of up to $10 million for information that will help catch criminals. 

Hackers breached T-Mobile’s database, confirmed the U.S. subsidiary of Deutsche Telekom in a post from the online forum, which also states that personal data of over 100 million users has been compromised. We are confident that the “hole” through which the hackers accessed the data has been closed, T-Mobile announced on their blog. The company did not confirm the information from the online forum that the data of over 100 million users has been stolen, which was reported on Sunday by the digital media company Motherboard.

– We have identified unauthorized access to some T-Mobile data, but we have not yet determined whether personal user data is included – T-Mobile stated on Monday. 

Motherboard reported that they are investigating claims on the forum that a ‘pile of personal data’ is being sold, including names, physical addresses, phone numbers, and driver’s license information. T-Mobile is not mentioned by name in the post, but an unnamed hacker stated in an interview with Motherboard that they obtained data from over 100 million people and that they accessed it through T-Mobile’s servers, according to Reuters. 

– Motherboard has seen samples of the data and confirmed that they contain accurate information about T-Mobile customers – states the report, which is cited by the news agency dpa.

– We are conducting a comprehensive analysis in collaboration with digital crime forensic experts to verify the validity of the claims and are coordinating measures with the police – the company stated.

T-Mobile last recorded a database breach in December of last year. Deutsche Telekom holds a 64.78% stake in T-Mobile according to an agreement with Japan’s Softbank, as shown by data on the German giant’s website, which generated 80% of its revenue in the second quarter from foreign markets, with the majority coming from the U.S. 

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