After 2021 cyberattacks exposed millions of customers’ personal information, T-Mobile has acknowledged $350 million settlement resolve claims that the breach was caused by his negligence. It was the second largest data breach settlement in US history after Equifax. $700 million settlement in 2019.
The last day to apply for part of the huge payout was Monday, 2023. January 23 A few days before this deadline, on January 19. T-Mobile announced another cyber attack that affected at least 37 million customers. .
T-Mobile attorney Kristy Brown called the latest attack “an entirely separate and distinct security incident” from 2021. violation and added that potential victims will be able to seek redress separately.
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What happened in the T-Mobile cybersecurity incident?
in 2021 August 15 T-Mobile said it was affected a massive cyber attack. Exactly how many customers were affected was not immediately clear: T-Mobile said only about 850,000 people’s names, addresses and PINs were “compromised.”
However, according to court documents, about 76.6 million people had their data exposed. And a hacker selling information on the dark web told Vice that he has personal information related to more than 100 million T-Mobile customers.
T-Mobile has not admitted to any wrongdoing, but said in a statement shared with CNET that “like every company, we are not immune to these criminal attacks.”
John Binns, an American living in Turkey, eventually claimed responsibility for the breach the fifth such attack T-Mobile since 2015
“I was panicking because I had access to something big,” Binns told The Wall Street Journal. – Their security is terrible.
According to the plaintiffs in the class action, T-Mobile should do a better job of protecting sensitive user data.
“Instead, T-Mobile suffered one of the largest and most consequential data breaches in US history, compromising more than 75 million consumers’ sensitive personal information,” their complaint states.
in 2022 March. T-Mobile also fell prey to the Lapsus$ hacker ringwhich accessed employee accounts and attempted to locate T-Mobile accounts linked to the FBI and Department of Defense.
Who was entitled to receive money in the settlement?
T-Mobile has identified 76 million former and current customers in the U.S. whose information may have been compromised in the data breach, though the actual number may be much higher. (You can confirm your status by emailing your billing administrator or by calling 833-512-2314.)
Most of the class members were notified of the proposed settlement by mail.
According to Law.com, less than 2 million class members have filed suit, a much lower than average response rate based on the number of people affected.
What did T-Mobile offer customers affected by the data breach?
Current and former T-Mobile customers were eligible for a $25 cash payment, according to the billing site. California residents were eligible for $100.
If you had to spend time or money to recover from fraud or identity theft related to the breach, you could be reimbursed up to $25,000, even though you had to provide detailed documentation to support your claim.
T-Mobile offered McAfee ID Theft Protection for free for two years to anyone who believed they might have been the victim of a hack. It also agreed to invest 150 million. USD to improving data security.
What is T-Mobile doing to protect against future data breaches?
T-Mobile has doubled its fight against hackers, the company said on July 22. in the message. It’s driving employee training, collaborating on new protocols with industry experts such as Mandiant and Accenture, and creating a cybersecurity office that will report directly to CEO Mike Sievert.
Read more: How to protect your personal data after a security breach
