May the Odds be in Your Favor...

Fav 5'ers Beware

T-Mobile USA probes claim its network was hacked

Tue Jun 9, 2009 12:34pm EDT

By Jim Finkle

BOSTON (Reuters) - T-Mobile USA, the No. 4 U.S. mobile carrier, said it was investigating a claim that somebody

hacked into its computers, stealing reams of confidential data.

A T-Mobile document, which contained information that appeared to identify servers from T-Mobile USA's

network, surfaced last Saturday on the website Insecure.org, a website devoted to computer security issues.

It was accompanied by a note from an unknown person offering to sell large quantities of confidential data from

T-Mobile to the highest bidder.

T-Mobile USA, the U.S. mobile arm of Germany's Deutsche Telekom (DTEGn.DE), issued a statement late Monday,

saying the information appeared to have been copied from its computer systems.

"We've identified the document from which information was copied, and believe possession of this alone is not

enough to cause harm to our customers," T-Mobile said.

The company did not say whether it believed the person possesses additional T-Mobile data.

The apparent attack against T-Mobile underscores the damage that data breaches can cause businesses. U.S.

President Barack Obama, who is searching for a White House czar to fight cyber crime, recently said such attacks

are so widespread that they have cost more than $8 billion in damages over the past two years in the United States.

The posting offered to sell databases, financial documents, other confidential information and computer programs

from T-Mobile's servers.