A lot of the biggest companies in the world deal with tons of client or consumer data, but the thing is, no matter how advanced they are, it seems that no company is resistant to being hacked or breached in some form. Unfortunately, as a consumer, you should be concerned, as yet another brand in charge of your data has just been compromised.
T-Mobile, one of the big three carriers in the United States, has just found itself a victim of a large-scale hack on the US telecommunications industry. From all indications, it looks like the hack was carried out by a Chinese organization. However, the impact seems to be rather limited, targeting mostly high-profile individuals and not general customers.
T-Mobile Is One Company That Was Breached In A Telecoms-Focused Operation
If you’re a T-Mobile subscriber, there’s cause to be a little bit worried. Earlier this year, AT&T found itself the victim of a data breach, which led to a ridiculous amount of personal information being leaked. As a result, the major carrier had to reset millions of user passcodes to protect its customers. It is unfortunate, but there’s a possibility that T-Mobile customers might need to be on guard too.
According to The Wall Street Journal, a cyber-espionage operation led to several telecom companies, both US-owned and international, finding themselves compromised. Apparently, the hackers responsible—thought to be linked to China—were able to do so after a campaign that took a month. The aim seemed to be to gain access to phone communications of specific targets.
Unfortunately, the major consumer-facing company affected was T-Mobile, which tens of millions of Americans have their data with. There’s no word on exactly when this breach took place, but it is only just being made public by the FBI and the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA).
T-Mobile Claims That Consumer Data Was Not Affected By The Hack
Though they hardly said so in definite terms, it seems that you might not need to worry too much about your own data having been fixed up in this whole espionage campaign. According to the carrier, there’s no evidence that any customer information was impacted, which is a good thing. Apparently, the hackers only targeted specific individuals of high importance, though there is no public info on who those are either.
An Initial Response From China States That It Has Nothing To Do With The Breach
Bloomberg was able to reach out to China’s foreign ministry spokesman, Lin Jian, who expressed that the country was not involved in the breach, stating that China “had no interest in interfering in other countries’ intel affairs through cyberspace”.
Of course, I’d hardly consider this to be definitive proof that there’s zero Chinese involvement in the hack. After all, it could be a Chinese organization working independently of the Chinese government. But then, even if there was governmental involvement, I can’t think of a single country that would admit to spying just because they were asked.
