Network Security News

T-Mobile confirms hackers breached servers

Tuesday, June 9, 2009

Unknown hackers claiming to have breached the servers of wireless company T-Mobile are seeking a ransom for the stolen data. T-Mobile confirmed in a statement on Monday that a data breach had occurred.

T-Mobile said the company identified the document from which information was copied and believe possession of the data, which was posted Saturday on a website called Full Disclosure, "is not enough to cause harm to our customers."

The hackers posted a list of IP addresses and secure locations, according to a network security expert, who said the posted data suggested a "serious attack," according to InformationWeek.

In a note on the Full Disclosure site, the mystery hacker or hackers said they would sell the data, which they claimed includes T-Mobile's "databases, confidential documents, scripts and programs from their servers [and] financial documents up to 2009."

The hackers said they had offered to sell the confidential data to T-Mobile's competitors, but "they didn't show interest in buying their data - probably because the mails got to the wrong people - so now we are offering them for the highest bidder."

In its statement to various IT security news websites, T-Mobile said it was investigating the data breach and could not disclose any further information so as to protect the integrity of the investigation.

T-Mobile said it would inform customers "if there is any evidence that customer information has been compromised."