AT&T employees were bribed to install phone unlocking malware on company network

Post by londons_explore » Tue, Aug 06, 2019, 11:25 PM UTC

HenryBemis wrote: post #130

dmix wrote: post #115

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Fahd allegedly recruited AT&T “insiders” to install malware programs that gathered confidential information and submitted unlock requests using employee credentials via a remote server. These were probably 3rd party call centers or section of the company that ran their customer service lines which gave agents the ability to unlock devices. The amount of spin this article is using to associate locking devices to kee…

I cannot see how would his be profitable. Usually when a customer receives a new cellphone at a lower price, that comes with a 12-24 month extension of a proportionally expensive contract. After said contract expires, AT&T has already made its profit. Even if someone would want to take the device and use another company's SIM card, they would still have to honour the contract with AT&T. The only "free money" scenario…

Post by tux1968 » Wed, Aug 07, 2019, 12:10 AM UTC

Causality1 wrote: post #114

deogeo wrote: post #14

1.) How is unlocking a phone "malware"? Isn't the lock malware, and the unlocking serves the owner of the device? Calling it malware reeks of regurgitating AT&T propaganda. 2.) How did this "deprive AT&T of the stream of payments it was owned under the customers’ service contracts and installment plans."? A phone getting unlocked doesn't void a contract, so those customers are still on the hook.

It'd be interesting to have a word for software that penetrates security and breaks laws for benevolent purposes.

Post by [deleted] » Wed, Aug 07, 2019, 12:14 AM UTC

spectrum1234 wrote: post #41

ATT support is awful. I recently had to contact support and through chat support the person said they were adding notes to my account. Of course when I call support another day they have no record of this. They then proceed to forward my call to 2 other departments each of which has no idea why I'm calling. I talked to each of these people for several minutes. How can a company possibly function like this?

Post by userbinator » Wed, Aug 07, 2019, 12:21 AM UTC

Causality1 wrote: post #114

deogeo wrote: post #14

1.) How is unlocking a phone "malware"? Isn't the lock malware, and the unlocking serves the owner of the device? Calling it malware reeks of regurgitating AT&T propaganda. 2.) How did this "deprive AT&T of the stream of payments it was owned under the customers’ service contracts and installment plans."? A phone getting unlocked doesn't void a contract, so those customers are still on the hook.

It'd be interesting to have a word for software that penetrates security and breaks laws for benevolent purposes.

Post by 55555 » Wed, Aug 07, 2019, 1:29 AM UTC

chendragon wrote: post #3

Is this how the eBay phone unlocking services work? Usually they say something about servers and "sending your IMEI to the server" etc, and sometimes it can take a certain number of hours.