Live data from Hacker News

T-Mobile Hacker Who Stole Data on 50M Customers: ‘Their Security Is Awful’

wsj.com

11–20 of 138 posts

Re: T-Mobile Hacker Who Stole Data on 50M Customers: ‘Their Security Is Awful’

#11

Been a T-Mobile customer for ages. Sim swaps are too easy. 2 factor is a joke. This is like the 3rd time my data has been lifted. But I stay with them, why? Because I have 3 free lines, unlimited everything, for $32 a month. They have crazy phone trade in deals from time to time, T-Mobile tuesday usually nets me 15c off per gallon at shell. Am I happy that they keep getting hacked? Absolutely not, but I'm happy prett…

how on earth do you have 3 lines with unlimited data for 32 a month?

Re: T-Mobile Hacker Who Stole Data on 50M Customers: ‘Their Security Is Awful’

#12

Been a T-Mobile customer for ages. Sim swaps are too easy. 2 factor is a joke. This is like the 3rd time my data has been lifted. But I stay with them, why? Because I have 3 free lines, unlimited everything, for $32 a month. They have crazy phone trade in deals from time to time, T-Mobile tuesday usually nets me 15c off per gallon at shell. Am I happy that they keep getting hacked? Absolutely not, but I'm happy prett…

Similar for me, I have 4 lines (2 I’m using) unlimited everything, no data caps for $100 a month. I looked at other options and there’s nothing close that compares.

Grandfathered "simple choice" plan with 10 lines for $160. I have upgrade to 5G phones with no problems. Not unlimited, but I never use up the data anyway.

I really hope TMO takes security seriously going forward.

Re: T-Mobile Hacker Who Stole Data on 50M Customers: ‘Their Security Is Awful’

#13

Been a T-Mobile customer for ages. Sim swaps are too easy. 2 factor is a joke. This is like the 3rd time my data has been lifted. But I stay with them, why? Because I have 3 free lines, unlimited everything, for $32 a month. They have crazy phone trade in deals from time to time, T-Mobile tuesday usually nets me 15c off per gallon at shell. Am I happy that they keep getting hacked? Absolutely not, but I'm happy prett…

So what you are saying is that the overcall cost of doing business with tmobile (both monetary and your personal data being public) justifies the convenience?

Re: T-Mobile Hacker Who Stole Data on 50M Customers: ‘Their Security Is Awful’

#14
What I don't understand is why the hacker (whose full name is used in the article - alias?) is being public about this? Shit security or not, they made a clear cut black hat move purely for money. Or I suppose the other factor is fame/infamy. Pretty sure there are at least a few pissed off hackers among those 50M people who would want to track this person down digitally and pull something as retaliation.

Re: T-Mobile Hacker Who Stole Data on 50M Customers: ‘Their Security Is Awful’

#15

What I don't understand is why the hacker (whose full name is used in the article - alias?) is being public about this? Shit security or not, they made a clear cut black hat move purely for money. Or I suppose the other factor is fame/infamy. Pretty sure there are at least a few pissed off hackers among those 50M people who would want to track this person down digitally and pull something as retaliation.

I'm going out on a limb, but based on signal from the article and actions the person has taken, I don't think they're mentally well.

Re: T-Mobile Hacker Who Stole Data on 50M Customers: ‘Their Security Is Awful’

#16

Been a T-Mobile customer for ages. Sim swaps are too easy. 2 factor is a joke. This is like the 3rd time my data has been lifted. But I stay with them, why? Because I have 3 free lines, unlimited everything, for $32 a month. They have crazy phone trade in deals from time to time, T-Mobile tuesday usually nets me 15c off per gallon at shell. Am I happy that they keep getting hacked? Absolutely not, but I'm happy prett…

how on earth do you have 3 lines with unlimited data for 32 a month?

[deleted]

Re: T-Mobile Hacker Who Stole Data on 50M Customers: ‘Their Security Is Awful’

#17

Blame the victim. The reality is, it’s all about incentives. He is going to make a few million. If their security were great they’d still have gotten hacked. Everyone who knows anything about computers knows, where there’s a will there’s a way. You cannot stop a determined hacker. Full stop. The problem is there are great incentives and not enough deterrents. Bitcoin. This will only get worse until the public decides…

This is a really odd take to me. No, you may not get every single thing right, and if someone is really determined then they might get through. But does that mean you shouldn't put the effort in to make that as difficult as possible? Of course not.

What you're saying is essentially the equivalent of saying "If someone had a bulldozer they could smash through the wall into my house anyway, so I'm going to stop locking my doors and closing my windows when I'm out"

Re: T-Mobile Hacker Who Stole Data on 50M Customers: ‘Their Security Is Awful’

#18
post #3

Everyone's security is awful, as the penalty for failure is less than the expense required to make it secure. Until the former becomes higher the latter will guarantee insecurity rules.

>Everyone's security is awful

True, but the Polaris (East Wenatchee) data center is a complete joke in every way.

Re: T-Mobile Hacker Who Stole Data on 50M Customers: ‘Their Security Is Awful’

#19
post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Similar for me, I have 4 lines (2 I’m using) unlimited everything, no data caps for $100 a month. I looked at other options and there’s nothing close that compares.

Grandfathered "simple choice" plan with 10 lines for $160. I have upgrade to 5G phones with no problems. Not unlimited, but I never use up the data anyway. I really hope TMO takes security seriously going forward.

...but what do you do with 10 lines?

Re: T-Mobile Hacker Who Stole Data on 50M Customers: ‘Their Security Is Awful’

#20
post #7

It would be nice to be able to open these accounts without providing PII, so that it would be harder to attack specific users, and breaches would not be so damaging to customers. This US trend of requiring government-issued ID for even routine transactions (like phone service) that aren’t ID-related is insane and dangerous.

Anyone know of a provider that doesn't mandate storing this info? I understand they want to know your credit to open an account so need your pii to get credit info, but does any cell provider not store it after that? I tried to get tmobile to delete mine and they won't so I'm open to switching to any post-paid service that does.
Post reply on HN