14 DAY TRIAL // With each passing day, the fallout from T-Mobile's recent data breach grows more serious. An update released Friday suggests hacking firms unlawfully obtained the personal information of another 5.3 million postpaid customers, including names, addresses, birthdates, IMSIs, IMEIs, and phone numbers, according to Fox Business.
The firm recently declared it discovered an additional 667,000 accessible user accounts that included addresses, phone numbers, customer names, and dates of birth. The latest figures put the total number of people affected by the security breach at more than 50 million, an increase from the previous estimate.
The hackers obtained information on more than 7.8 million existing postpaid customers along with PINS, phone numbers, and names of T-Mobile's prepaid customers. T-Mobile said that in most cases, the driver's license information and Social Security numbers of affected customers were not obtained illegally.
T-Mobile acknowledges that hackers may use the stolen sensitive information for illegal purposes
T-Mobile stated in a statement about the incident, "Armed with the Private Information accessed in the Data Breach, data thieves can commit a variety of crimes, including but not limited to fraudulently applying for unemployment benefits, opening new financial accounts in Class Members’ names, taking out loans in Class Members’ names”, adding that, using class members' information cybercriminals, can also file fraudulent tax returns, take out loans, issue driver's licenses but with someone else's photo, and present false information to police when arrested.
In Espanoza v. T-Mobile USA, one of the lawsuits, the plaintiff alleges that T-Mobile seriously endangers its customers because the company fails to adequately protect its customers due to its irresponsible actions. The other lawsuit, Durwalla v. T-Mobile USA, alleges that victims spent up to 1,000 hours dealing with privacy issues stemming from the attack, including examining financial and credit records to prove unlawful conduct by the company.
In a press release, the company said it was taking immediate action to protect affected customers and was working with law enforcement to do so.