Experian PLC said a data breach may have compromised the personal information of roughly 15 million consumers in the USA, including those who had applied for T-Mobile US Inc. subscription services or devices over two years through September 16.
Advertisement
Upon discovery, Experian said it secured the server, initiated an investigation and notified both U.S. and global law enforcement.
Legere said no payment card or banking information was taken. In a few cases, ID like a drivers’ license or passport number was acquired, in addition to other information T-Mobile uses for credit assessments. Affected consumers may enroll in free credit monitoring services at www.protectmyid.com/securityincident.
Experian noted that the only nicked data was for T-Mobile customers, and that its own consumer credit services were not affected.
John Legere, however, is not not one to mince words and he was none to pleased to hear about 15 million of his customers being exposed courtesy of Experian’s lapse in security. “But right now my top concern and first focus is assisting any and all consumers affected”.
“The irony is that so many companies have used Experian as a “clean room” to put your data together with other companies data to keep it from being personally identifiable”, Mandel said.
The breach was the result of an attack on a database maintained by credit-reporting service Experian, which was contracted to process credit applications for T-Mobile customers, T-Mobile CEO John Legere said in a statement posted online.
Experian adds that there’s no evidence the data has been used inappropriately.
Advertisement
For a couple of years now, T-Mobile has touted its installment and lease plans that’ll get you a new phone for $0 down. This time an Experian data breach is what’s creating a buzz around information security circles – and it’s no small breach at all. T-Mobile will begin alerting customers logging into their accounts while Experian will be alerting customers in writing.
