T-Mobile is investigating an alleged data breach affecting 100 million users - and the hacker is offering private data in exchange for bitcoin

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T-Mobile said it is looking into an alleged data breach based on a claim made in a forum post, according to Vice's Motherboard.
The seller, according to the forum post, is asking for bitcoins in exchange.
The potential data breach is said to have compromised 100 million users.
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T-Mobile on Sunday said it is looking into an alleged massive data breach compromising over 100 million users based on a claim made in an underground forum post, according to Vice's Motherboard.

The seller, according to the post, is asking for bitcoin in exchange.

While the post did not mention T-mobile per see, the seller did mention that the data came from T-mobile's servers.

"T-Mobile USA. Full customer info," the seller said in the post, according to Motherboard.

This information included details such as social security numbers, phone numbers, names, physical addresses, and driver's licenses information, the seller said, according to Motherboard.

In exchange, the seller wants six bitcoins, worth around $274,000 as of publishing, just for a portion of the data, which would consist of 30 million social security numbers and driver's licenses.

The seller, according to Motherboard, said they are privately offering the rest of the data.

Shortly after, the seller mentioned being booted out of the servers but claimed to have backed up the data.

"I think they already found out because we lost access to the backdoored servers," the seller said, according to Motherboard. "It's backed up in multiple places."

A T-mobile spokesperson said the company is "aware of claims made in an underground forum" and is "actively investigating their validity."

"We do not have any additional information to share at this time," the spokesperson added.

Cryptocurrencies have been at the center of recent high-profile cyberattacks, demanded as ransom by criminals because transactions are either anonymous or very difficult to trace.

In the US, the Biden administration is said to be ramping up efforts to trace cryptocurrencies used in cyberattacks and is planning to offer bounties of up to $10 million for information that will help catch criminals.

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