T Mobile-Hacked!

KingFishKingFish
edited March 2005 in Science & Tech
A sophisticated computer hacker had access to servers at wireless giant T-Mobile for at least a year, which he used to monitor U.S. Secret Service e-mail, obtain customers' passwords and Social Security numbers, and download candid photos taken by Sidekick users, including Hollywood celebrities, SecurityFocus has learned.
Twenty-one year-old Nicolas Jacobsen was quietly charged with the intrusions last October, after a Secret Service informant helped investigators link him to sensitive agency documents that were circulating in underground IRC chat rooms. The informant also produced evidence that Jacobsen was behind an offer to provide T-Mobile customers' personal information to identity thieves through an Internet bulletin board, according to court records.

Jacobsen could access information on any of the Bellevue, Washington-based company's 16.3 million customers, including many customers' Social Security numbers and dates of birth, according to government filings in the case. He could also obtain voicemail PINs, and the passwords providing customers with Web access to their T-Mobile e-mail accounts. He did not have access to credit card numbers.

The case arose as part of the Secret Service's "Operation Firewall" crackdown on Internet fraud rings last October, in which 19 men were indicted for trafficking in stolen identity information and documents, and stolen credit and debit card numbers. But Jacobsen was not charged with the others. Instead he faces two felony counts of computer intrusion and unauthorized impairment of a protected computer in a separate, unheralded federal case in Los Angeles, currently set for a February 14th status conference.
Source: SecurityFocus

Comments

  • RWBRWB Icrontian
    edited January 2005
    As a T-Mobile customer I am shocked and appauled.... I wonder if this has anything to do with what I woke up to on the radio which had me do some quick checks online to see if my information is freely available to everyone looking for it. Luckily it wasn't..... for now.
  • TheSmJTheSmJ
    edited January 2005
    As a T-Mo customer AND Sidekick user, I'm annoyed. Coulda hapened to anybody though.

    Least I don't have a camera on my SK. :thumbsup:
  • GargGarg Purveyor of Lincoln Nightmares Icrontian
    edited January 2005
    As a T-Mobile user, I plan to run my credit rating into the ground, making my identity less attractive to potential theives :D
  • EMTEMT Seattle, WA Icrontian
    edited January 2005
    That is really scary. I wonder how many others have given themselves access to big servers with private information...
  • primesuspectprimesuspect Beepin n' Boopin Detroit, MI Icrontian
    edited January 2005
    probably more than we want to know about :(
  • JimboraeJimborae Newbury, Berks, UK New
    edited January 2005
    Oh dear. :wow:

    *jim rushes off to check Vodafone's servers*
  • a2jfreaka2jfreak Houston, TX Member
    edited January 2005
    Makes me glad I'm a Cingular customer . . . then I think, "Oh, wait. If T-Mobile didn't tell its customers, maybe the same has happened to Cingular and it isn't telling either."

    Stupid "hackers."
  • CammanCamman NEW! England Icrontian
    edited January 2005
    to go along with the trend...

    As a T-Mobile customer....I dont care...tmobile has better service and coverage in my area than Cingular/AT&T (used to have an AT&T phone, friend has a cingular) and the rates are good. And good luck to anybody trying to steal my identity, have fun with my non-existant credit!
  • Lincoln
    edited February 2005
    I knew Jacobsen about 10 years ago. Very interesting.
  • primesuspectprimesuspect Beepin n' Boopin Detroit, MI Icrontian
    edited March 2005
    I hate the internet.
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