If you are a T-Mobile customer, there’s a chance that your personal data may be compromised.
On Thursday, the credit bureau Experian said in a statement that servers used to store data for T-Mobile customers were breached.
Approximately 15 million people are affected, including those who applied for T-Mobile services or for device financing between September 1, 2013 to September 16, 2015, according to a statement from T-Mobile’s CEO John Legere.
T-Mobile, which uses Experian to process credit applications, said it is working with the credit bureau to help protect customers, but it looks like the breach is pretty messy and could be a headache for consumers.
The hackers made off with lots of sensitive information about T-Mobile customers including the names, addresses, Social Security numbers, and identification numbers like those found on a driver license or passport.
No payment or banking information was obtained, Experian said.
While information like Social Security numbers and ID numbers was originally encrypted, Experian has determined that the encryption may have been compromised.
Legere posted a statement on the company’s website expressing his dismay with the incident.
Obviously I am incredibly angry about this data breach and we will institute a thorough review of our relationship with Experian, but right now my top concern and first focus is assisting any and all consumers affected. I take our customer and prospective customer privacy VERY seriously. This is no small issue for us. I do want to assure our customers that neither T-Mobile's systems nor network were part of this intrusion and this did not involve any payment card numbers or bank account information.
T-Mobile has posted a Q&A on its website to help users who may be affected.
If you are a T-Mobile customer or if you applied for any of the company's services between the dates above, you can also sign up for two years of free credit monitoring and identity resolution services on this website.
But here's the catch: The credit monitoring and identity resolution will be provided by none other than Experian.
