T-Mobile Investigates Data Breach; Customer Impacts Unknown

BELLEVUE, WA — T-Mobile confirmed Monday that it detected unauthorized access to some of its data, but said it was too early to know the full scope of the breach. The Bellevue-based telecom, and one of the city's largest employers, shared a cybersecurity update Monday, one day after Vice News reported on a potentially massive hack.

On Sunday, Vice reported an online seller claimed to have obtained personal information on more than 100 million people, taken T-Mobile's servers, and was offering to sell a portion of the data on the underground market. On Monday, T-Mobile said it was "working around the clock" to investigate the validity of the claims, in conjunction with law enforcement.

T-Mobile writes:

"We have determined that unauthorized access to some T-Mobile data occurred, however we have not yet determined that there is any personal customer data involved. We are confident that the entry point used to gain access has been closed, and we are continuing our deep technical review of the situation across our systems to identify the nature of any data that was illegally accessed. This investigation will take some time but we are working with the highest degree of urgency. Until we have completed this assessment we cannot confirm the reported number of records affected or the validity of statements made by others.

We understand that customers will have questions and concerns, and resolving those is critically important to us. Once we have a more complete and verified understanding of what occurred, we will proactively communicate with our customers and other stakeholders."

With more than 105 million customers in the United States, T-Mobile is the nation's second-largest wireless provider.