T-Mobile US CEO Mike Sievert has issued an official apology for the recent data breach, which affected 54 million customers. The cause of the breach came from one malicious actor who was able to gain access to the company’s testing environments and then used brute force attacks and other methods to enter other IT servers that included customer data. No further details can be disclosed at this point, as the company is still actively coordinating with law enforcement on the criminal investigation, we are unable to disclose too many details.
Sievert reiterated that the breach, confirmed on 17 August, was contained, and that it did not expose an customer financial information, such as credit card information, debit or other payment information. However, some SSN, name, address, date of birth and driver’s license/ID information was compromised and the company is therefore taking strong action to prevent such an event from happening again. It has announced new, long-term partnerships with Mandiant, part of FireEye, and with consulting firm KPMG.
The CEO said the deals are part of a substantial multi-year investment to adopt best-in-class practices and transform the company’s approach to cybercrime. The company also wants to build a future-forward strategy to protect itself and its customers. Mandiant has been part of the forensic investigation since the start of the incident. The company will support T-Mobile as it develops its strategic plan to mitigate and stabilise cybersecurity risks. KPMG will meanwhile perform a thorough review of all T-Mobile security policies and performance measurement. The firm will focus on controls to identify gaps and areas of improvement. Mandiant and KPMG will together map out actions to protect customers and others from malicious activity.
New information web page
T-Mobile US added that it has published a web page to provide customers can protect themselves. The company is offering two years of free identity protection services with McAfee’s ID Theft Protection Service to all persons who may have been affected and is recommending customers sign up to its free scam-blocking protection through Scam Shield. The site also makes Account Takeover Protection available for postpaid customers, which makes it more difficult for customer accounts to be fraudulently ported out and stolen, and suggests other best practices and practical security steps like resetting PINs and passwords for all customers.
