A group of hackers claims to have completely cracked T-Mobile's network in
the US, and stolen proprietary operating data, customer databases and financial
records.
A
message
posted on the Full Disclosure mailing list said that the hackers have emailed
T-Mobile's rivals with an offer to sell the information, but that they had not
heard back. They are now offering it to the highest bidder.
"We have everything, their databases, confidential documents, scripts and
programs from their servers, financial documents up to 2009," said the posting.
"We already contacted their competitors and 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. Please only serious offers, don't
waste our time."
To substantiate the claims, the hackers posted material on the site which
they claim came from T-Mobile's servers, although opinion is divided about its
authenticity.
In the past such an offer would be highly unlikely, since it automatically
draws the attention of law enforcement. Nevertheless, T-Mobile has said that it
is investigating the claims.
"The protection of our customers' information, and the safety and security of
our systems, is absolutely paramount at T-Mobile," said the company in a
statement.
"Regarding the recent claim, we are fully investigating the matter. As is our
standard practice, if there is any evidence that customer information has been
compromised, we would inform those affected as soon as possible."
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