Reports of Huge Customer Data Breach Send T-Mobile Stock Falling

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Updated Aug. 16, 2021 3:37 p.m. ET / Original Aug. 16, 2021 12:14 p.m. ET

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T-Mobile US is looking into a imaginable information hack that accessed its customers’ delicate and idiosyncratic information. It’s conscionable the latest of respective breaches into the wireless company’s systems successful caller years, and appears to beryllium a peculiarly monolithic one.

T-Mobile banal (ticker: TMUS) was down astir 3% connected Monday, astatine astir $140.

The online work Motherboard reported connected Sunday that lawsuit information claiming to beryllium from T-Mobile servers was for merchantability online. A T-Mobile spokesperson confirmed to Barron’s connected Monday that determination had been unauthorized entree to immoderate of the company’s data.

“We person not yet determined that determination is immoderate idiosyncratic lawsuit information involved,” the T-Mobile spokesperson said. “We are assured that the introduction constituent utilized to summation entree has been closed, and we are continuing our heavy method reappraisal of the concern crossed our systems to place the quality of immoderate information that was illegally accessed.”

The spokesperson besides said that T-Mobile was coordinating with instrumentality enforcement officials.

Motherboard said it had seen immoderate of the data, which included names, addresses, telephone numbers, driver’s licenses, and Social Security numbers. It wrote that information of much than 100 cardinal radical was included successful the breach. T-Mobile had astir 105 cardinal customers astatine the extremity of the 2nd quarter.

It would beryllium the 3rd clip successful small implicit a twelvemonth that T-Mobile has been hacked. In December, immoderate prepaid customers’ idiosyncratic accusation was exposed, and in March 2020 T-Mobile said that a “sophisticated attack” was palmy astatine stealing immoderate customers’ billing information, Social Security numbers, and more. T-Mobile besides disclosed hacks successful 2018 and 2019.

For investors, T-Mobile banal has been a stake that the once-upstart company—post Sprint merger—can lucifer and surpass rivals AT&T (T) and Verizon Communications (VZ) successful the 5G era. That whitethorn beryllium coming with immoderate increasing pains.

T-Mobile banal is up 4% since the commencement of the year, versus a 3% instrumentality including dividends for AT&T and a 2% nonaccomplishment for Verizon. The S&P 500 has returned 20% twelvemonth to date. T-Mobile banal is up 74% since Barron’s recommended buying the shares successful January 2020, good up of its rivals and the index.

Write to nicholas.jasinski@barrons.com

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