topic Re: T-Mobile/Experian breach in Credit in the News

@Anonymous wrote:
From the article... free Experian credit monitoring for 2 years if you applied for a T-mobile account between Sept 1, 2013 and Sept 16, 2015.

http://www.protectmyid.com/default.aspx?sc=678628

Which I did. D'oh.

This is a potentially nasty breach, SS and ID numbers may have been compromised. Not a great feeling right now.

So the hackers who stole the data will wait 2 years for the credit monitoring to run out then they will start using the hacked information

Re: T-Mobile/Experian breach

thelethargicage — Fri, 02 Oct 2015 02:17:53 GMT

@AhmedInVA wrote:
@Anonymous wrote:
From the article... free Experian credit monitoring for 2 years if you applied for a T-mobile account between Sept 1, 2013 and Sept 16, 2015.

http://www.protectmyid.com/default.aspx?sc=678628

Which I did. D'oh.

This is a potentially nasty breach, SS and ID numbers may have been compromised. Not a great feeling right now.
So the hackers who stole the data will wait 2 years for the credit monitoring to run out then they will start using the hacked information

Hackers don't garden,

At least I hope not.

Re: T-Mobile/Experian breach

Anonymous — Fri, 02 Oct 2015 02:46:13 GMT

@thelethargicage wrote:
@AhmedInVA wrote:
@Anonymous wrote:
From the article... free Experian credit monitoring for 2 years if you applied for a T-mobile account between Sept 1, 2013 and Sept 16, 2015.

http://www.protectmyid.com/default.aspx?sc=678628

Which I did. D'oh.

This is a potentially nasty breach, SS and ID numbers may have been compromised. Not a great feeling right now.
So the hackers who stole the data will wait 2 years for the credit monitoring to run out then they will start using the hacked information
Hackers don't garden,

At least I hope not.

Right now, on some "anonymous" hacker forum, there's someone with a seedling in their signature, posting "Alright, I got my data on 15 million people. I'm going to be in the garden letting my decryption software work on the encrypted data fields for the next 2 years. Thanks to everyone for their advice and guidance in helping me get this far."

Re: T-Mobile/Experian breach

CreditDunce — Fri, 02 Oct 2015 03:46:11 GMT

1) The encryption keys were likely stolen, too. No need to garden while waiting for the fields to be decrypted. They can sell the data now to the highest bidder. In two years, they can sell it again to the highest bidder.

2) Why was the data being stored any way? Either T-Mobile approved you or denied you. They didn't need to keep your social and drivers license numbers around after the fact. But it doesn't cost them much to keep it. And if it is stolen, it isn't sensitive information for T-Mobile or Experian .

3) Is Experian going to give T-Mobile a discount on the credit monitoring? It was an Experian system that was breached (although, we don't know if the hackers used cred's from T-Mobile).

Re: T-Mobile/Experian breach

Countingpennies — Fri, 02 Oct 2015 04:07:36 GMT

I've been procrastinating freezing my reports. I never did it before. This news today pushed me to do it. I'm on T-Mo and purchased my phone with them a year ago.

Here's a link to John Legere's statement:

http://www.t-mobile.com/landing/experian-data-breach.html

Re: T-Mobile/Experian breach

Anonymous — Fri, 02 Oct 2015 04:45:19 GMT

@CreditDunce wrote:

1) The encryption keys were likely stolen, too. No need to garden while waiting for the fields to be decrypted. They can sell the data now to the highest bidder. In two years, they can sell it again to the highest bidder. Yep. It's depressing.
2) Why was the data being stored any way? Either T-Mobile approved you or denied you. They didn't need to keep your social and drivers license numbers around after the fact. But it doesn't cost them much to keep it. And if it is stolen, it isn't sensitive information for T-Mobile or Experian . The first question had me livid earlier(i've calmed down a bit since then).
3) Is Experian going to give T-Mobile a discount on the credit monitoring? It was an Experian system that was breached (although, we don't know if the hackers used cred's from T-Mobile).

The whole thing is infuriating. I'm trying hard not to rant about it here. Thus my previous attempt at humor.

Re: T-Mobile/Experian breach

Anonymous — Fri, 02 Oct 2015 05:44:41 GMT

To top it off, I was never notified by the TMobile sales person that my credit was going to be checked even after I specifically asked about it. Was given the ol' "for internal purposes" reason when they asked for my SSN. Same story with AT&Trash, being asked for SSN and reassured by employee that no soft or hard pull will occur, next thing you know "new alert".

This is a common practice across the cellular industry enabled by both the telecom companies and the credit reporting agencies.

Experian - you had one job.

Re: T-Mobile/Experian breach

Anonymous — Fri, 02 Oct 2015 13:59:26 GMT

@CreditDunce wrote:
2) Why was the data being stored any way? Either T-Mobile approved you or denied you. They didn't need to keep your social and drivers license numbers around after the fact. But it doesn't cost them much to keep it. And if it is stolen, it isn't sensitive information for T-Mobile or Experian .
3) Is Experian going to give T-Mobile a discount on the credit monitoring? It was an Experian system that was breached (although, we don't know if the hackers used cred's from T-Mobile).

I inadvertently applied for T-Mobile, never wanted there service. I was just curious about pricing but found out later that I had a credit pull by T-Mobile, but it was not pulled from Experian but rather another credit bureau. Does this still raise concern?

Re: T-Mobile/Experian breach

Anonymous — Fri, 02 Oct 2015 14:12:18 GMT

@thelethargicage wrote:
@AhmedInVA wrote:
@Anonymous wrote:
From the article... free Experian credit monitoring for 2 years if you applied for a T-mobile account between Sept 1, 2013 and Sept 16, 2015.

http://www.protectmyid.com/default.aspx?sc=678628

Which I did. D'oh.

This is a potentially nasty breach, SS and ID numbers may have been compromised. Not a great feeling right now.
So the hackers who stole the data will wait 2 years for the credit monitoring to run out then they will start using the hacked information
Hackers don't garden,

At least I hope not.

Some hackers did garden in the Target 2013 data breach.

T-Mobile just sent me an email offering me 2 years of credit monitoring and ID theft protection but I'm reading the fine print tomake sure they did not include a clause that if I accept 2 years of monitoring then I waive any claim for any ID theft losses past the 2 year period.

Re: T-Mobile/Experian breach

toothgrind3r — Fri, 02 Oct 2015 14:10:53 GMT

Think I can call Experian and say "Okay, you eff'd up. You can make this better by taking my baddies off my report, cool?"

In all seriousness, this kinda sucks

I'm in this timeframe of having my credit pulled by T-Mo....balls

Re: T-Mobile/Experian breach

Anonymous — Fri, 02 Oct 2015 14:15:57 GMT

Yes, telcoms are out of control. T-Mobile pulled my report and I'm on a month to month plan with them, **bleep**!

Re: T-Mobile/Experian breach

Anonymous — Fri, 02 Oct 2015 17:21:48 GMT

I don't think this breach will affect all, only if T-Mobile had pulled your Experian report you have a chance of becoming an identify theft victim. T-Mobile like all other creditors pull different bureaus according to your location. So, if T-Mobile did not pull your Experian credit report, you should be fine.

Re: T-Mobile/Experian breach

Anonymous — Fri, 02 Oct 2015 17:27:39 GMT

Yes, that is correct, T-Mobile pulled TU for me in April 2014

Re: T-Mobile/Experian breach

GFer — Fri, 02 Oct 2015 17:31:07 GMT

I surely hope this is true. They just pulled my TU.

Re: T-Mobile/Experian breach

Anonymous — Fri, 02 Oct 2015 20:55:55 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
I don't think this breach will affect all, only if T-Mobile had pulled your Experian report you have a chance of becoming an identify theft victim. T-Mobile like all other creditors pull different bureaus according to your location. So, if T-Mobile did not pull your Experian credit report, you should be fine.

I hope that's the case, however, I received an alert from T-Mobile that I may have been one of the people compromised despite that they pulled TU for me as well. Keep in mind that Experian offers more services than just consumer credit checks. Their business services include(from their website):

Customer Information and Database Management

Eliminating multiple customer databases can help you gain a single customer view, breakdown silos and improve data quality. Overcome the challenges posed by numerous, disparate customer databases and allow our data and customer management systems to manage and cleanse data from multiple sources."

Because of this, I'm not reassured at all, at this point, that their pulling TU means I'm off the hook.

Re: T-Mobile/Experian breach

Anonymous — Fri, 02 Oct 2015 21:25:09 GMT

Perhaps it's just a general warning that they have to send to all of their customers. The other good news is that T-Mobile has over 50 million subscribers and millions more of applicants who were rejected but with their data still retained. Only 15 millions of these personal information was acquired so you have a very small chance that you will become a victim of identify theft. I guesstimate it that 3 out of 20 people may have had their personal information stolen.

Re: T-Mobile/Experian breach

Anonymous — Fri, 02 Oct 2015 21:38:37 GMT

I contacted Experian and they said they know exactly whose information was stolen and they will be emailed, but still, T-Mobile may have just sent a general alert to all of its customers, not just selected. Maybe someone can verify this.