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The company stated it has severed ties to a provider network that they believe to be responsible for the compromised system.
US wireless network operator T-Mobile has revealed that its organisation is aware of a recent attempt by threat actors to steal sensitive data, but that no private information was accessed.
There has been a wave of telecommunication breaches in recent times, reportedly conducted by a group named Salt Typhoon, who have been linked to Chinese state-sponsored operations, however T-Mobile has yet to confirm the identity of the individuals or group involved. All findings have been given to the US government for assessment.
While T-Mobile confirmed that it had detected several attempts at system infiltration, the platform has stated that it was able to stop the attack from advancing and that no sensitive data, for example voicemails, texts or calls, were accessed. T-Mobile has since severed all connection to the provider network that they hold responsible and are of the opinion that it is still compromised.
Though it is unknown who is responsible for the data breach experienced by T-Mobile, Salt Typhoon has been linked to telecommunications cyber espionage in recent months, having targeted other large wireless network operators, such as AT&T, Verizon and Lumen Technologies, in an effort to gather private information.
This is not the first time that T-Mobile has been in hot water over significant data breaches. In October of this year, the company was ordered to pay a penalty of $15.75m to the US Treasury, for multiple data breaches affecting tens of millions of users over the years. As part of the settlement the organisation was also told to pay $15.75m to strengthen its cybersecurity infrastructure.
In a statement to the Wall Street Journal, a representative for the company stated, “T-Mobile is closely monitoring this industry-wide attack and at this time, T-Mobile systems and data have not been impacted in any significant way and we have no evidence of impacts to customer information.
“We will continue to monitor this closely, working with industry peers and the relevant authorities.”
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