SIM swapping campaigns caused the latest data breach in T-Mobile

January 28, 2022
SIM Swapping Cyberattack Campaigns Data Breach T-Mobile US

T-Mobile revealed that a new data breach has occurred in their network after many of their clients fell victim to SIM swapping campaigns. In an interview, the telecommunication firm stated that they had informed the customers affected by the SIM swapping scam. The victimised customers’ SIM card numbers have been illegally reassigned to another account, and the threat actors were able to view limited account information.

Fortunately, T-Mobile has quickly corrected the issue using its in-place safeguards. They are also applying proactive additional safety measures to ensure minimal damage to their system. The company did not further explain what was happening with the attack and did not disclose the overall number of affected customers.

 

SIM swapping or SIM hijacking scams enable threat actors to take over a target’s mobile phone number by deceiving or convincing the carrier’s worker to reassign the mobile numbers to an attacker-controlled SIM.

 

This accessibility allows the hackers to control the victims’ phone numbers and utilise them to avoid SMS-based MFA, log into the infiltrated device’s bank account, steal money, hack multiple online attacks, and steal their credentials. T-Mobile users are advised to be wary of possible unwanted text messages or phishing emails impersonating the telecom company. Experts recommend not to click any links in these messages since threat actors could utilise them to steal credentials.

T-Mobile has reportedly suffered numerous data breach incidents in the last four years and revealed six data breaches from 2018 to 2021.

In 2018, millions of T-Mobile users’ information was accessed by hijackers. Then in 2019, the company exposed the data of their prepaid subscribers. In 2020, two recorded incidents affected T-Mobile’s workers’ emails, and hijackers told their customers proprietary network info. And in February of 2021, hackers targeted several users in  SIM swap attacks after gaining access to an internal T-Mobile app.

This incident showed that threat actors could easily abuse any attack related to SIM swapping. That is why users should always be on the lookout for threats that may jeopardise their sim cards.

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