Hacker penetrates T-Mobile systems

Security Focus News ^ | January 11,2005 | Kevin Poulsen

[vivabushchick]

A sophisticated computer hacker had access to servers at wireless giant T-Mobile for at least a year, which he used to monitor U.S. Secret Service e-mail, obtain customers' passwords and Social Security numbers, and download candid photos taken by Sidekick users, including Hollywood celebrities, SecurityFocus has learned.

Twenty-one year-old Nicolas Jacobsen was quietly charged with the intrusions last October, after a Secret Service informant helped investigators link him to sensitive agency documents that were circulating in underground IRC chat rooms. The informant also produced evidence that Jacobsen was behind an offer to provide T-Mobile customers' personal information to identity thieves through an Internet bulletin board, according to court records.

Jacobsen could access information on any of the Bellevue, Washington-based company's 16.3 million customers, including many customers' Social Security numbers and dates of birth, according to government filings in the case. He could also obtain voicemail PINs, and the passwords providing customers with Web access to their T-Mobile e-mail accounts. He did not have access to credit card numbers.

T-Mobile, which apparently knew of the intrusions by July of last year, has not issued any public warning. Continue... http://www.securityfocus.com/news/10271

[vivabushchick]

Got T-Mobil ? According to this news article, by press time, customers had not been told. I agree you don't want to compromise a pending case but when a company states our information is secure and something like this happens the least we can expect is a notification of possible intrusion into our accounts. People in high public office could never get away with this especially under the scutiny of a special commission.