US mobile phone giant T-Mobile said it had been hacked as part of a broader “industry-wide attack” on phone and internet companies in the US and abroad in recent months.
T-Mobile said in a statement: “We are closely monitoring this industry-wide attack, and at this time T-Mobile's systems and data are not materially impacted and there is no evidence of any impact to customer information.” . The statement was shared with the Wall Street Journal, which first reported on the T-Mobile breach, citing people familiar with the campaign targeting the telecom giant.
A T-Mobile spokesperson did not immediately comment when contacted by TechCrunch on Saturday.
T-Mobile is the latest carrier to see a breach in recent weeks related to a series of cyberattacks targeting phone and internet companies including AT&T, Verizon, and Lumen (formerly CenturyLink). The hack was carried out by a group of hackers working for the Chinese government known as Salt Typhoon, and was created under a 30-year-old federal law to allow U.S. phone and internet companies to access customer data. targeted the wiretapping system required by the government.
The FBI and U.S. cybersecurity agency CISA issued a statement this week warning the broader industry about related cyberattacks, saying China had conducted a “widespread and significant cyber espionage campaign” targeting the call records and text messages of senior U.S. officials. accused of being presidential candidates.
This is the ninth known cyber attack targeting T-Mobile in recent years, according to a running count by TechCrunch. T-Mobile's most recent breach occurred in 2023 and resulted in the theft of personal information from 37 million T-Mobile customers.