T-Mobile confirms that personal data of over 40 million customers was stolen by hackers
The personal information of 47.8 million people was stolen on Monday's data breach.
Records stolen include customers' date of birth, SSN, and driver's license information.
Since the pandemic, the number of cybersecurity attacks has increased by 300%, according to the FBI.
T-Mobile confirmed Tuesday that the personal information of 47.8 million people was stolen in a data breach on Monday.
Records from 7.8 million current T-Mobile customer accounts were taken along with 40 million records of former or prospective customers, the company said.
While no phone numbers, account numbers, PINs, passwords, or financial information were compromised in the breach, the stolen information includes customers' first and last names, date of birth, SSN, and driver's license information.
T-Mobile recommends that all postpaid customers change their PIN associated with their account and is also offering additional protection services like McAfee's ID Theft Protection Service and Account Takeover Protection capabilities for all customers.
"We take our customers' protection very seriously and we will continue to work around the clock on this forensic investigation to ensure we are taking care of our customers in light of this malicious attack," a spokesperson said.
T-Mobile originally became aware of the data breach after hackers posted in an underground forum, Vice's Motherboard first reported.
The seller of the information is asking for six bitcoins, worth about $271,500 as of publishing, for 30 million social security numbers and driver's licenses, according to Motherboard. The seller is privately offering the rest of the breached information.
Since the start of the coronavirus pandemic, the number of cybersecurity attacks has increased by about 300%, according to data from the FBI reported by The Hill.
In total, more than $4 billion in the US was lost last year from cyberattacks, according to a March 2021 report from IC3, the FBI's Internet Crime Complaint Center.
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