In a letter to consumers, T-Mobile CEO John Legere disclosed that the vendor his company uses to process credit applications has been compromised.
The investigation is ongoing, but what we know right now is that the hacker acquired the records of approximately 15 million people, including new applicants requiring a credit check for service or device financing from September 1, 2013 through September 16, 2015. These records include information such as name, address and birthdate as well as encrypted fields with Social Security number and ID number (such as driver’s license or passport number), and additional information used in T-Mobile’s own credit assessment. Experian has determined that this encryption may have been compromised. We are working with Experian to take protective steps for all of these consumers as quickly as possible.
In responding to this attack, T-Mobile will be offering up two years of free credit monitoring and identity theft protection through ProtectMyID.com.
We don’t have confirmation on when this attack took place, or how quickly T-Mobile and Experian responded to the issue. Though the data stolen represents approximately two years of records, we can assume that the hackers have not had access for that length of time.
You can read Experian’s official press release here, and John Legere’s full letter to T-Mobile customers below.
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