• Home
  • Latest
  • Fortune 500
  • Finance
  • Tech
  • Leadership
  • Lifestyle
  • Rankings
  • Multimedia
TechT-Mobile

Hackers claim to breach 100 million T-Mobile accounts

By
Chris Morris
Chris Morris
Former Contributing Writer
Down Arrow Button Icon
By
Chris Morris
Chris Morris
Former Contributing Writer
Down Arrow Button Icon
August 16, 2021, 11:31 AM ET

T-Mobile appears to be the victim of a massive data breach, with the hackers looking to sell personal data online for 100 million people.

In a forum post, the hackers say they collected phone numbers, physical addresses, and driver’s license information for the larger group, as well as roughly 30 million Social Security numbers. Motherboard, which first reported the hack, says it has confirmed the authenticity of the data, noting it matches the information of T-Mobile customers.

T-Mobile did not respond to Fortune’s request for comment.

While the initial post does not mention the cellular company, the hackers told Motherboard the data came from T-Mobile.

The asking price for a subset of the personal information (the Social Security and driver’s license data) is six Bitcoin, roughly $270,000. The remainder of the accounts are reportedly being sold privately.

If you’re a T-Mobile customer and are worried about your information being vulnerable, here are a few steps you can take to provide ease of mind.

Step one: Monitor your accounts for fraudulent activity. Most Americans don’t keep close tabs on their checking and saving balance and don’t examine every item on their credit card bill—and hackers count on that.

Step two: Set up credit monitoring to ensure no one is using your personal information. T-Mobile has not yet offered any credit monitoring subscriptions to users. There are several third-party companies that will watch out for you, though, which don’t charge an exorbitant amount.

It’s also not a bad idea to sign up for a credit monitoring service, such as Equifax’s TrustedID Premier (though Equifax had a notable data breach of its own in 2017) or Credit Karma.

Step three: If you’re especially worried about identity theft, consider a credit freeze, which prevents new credit from being issued without your direct permission.

“Your best protection against someone opening new credit accounts in your name is the security freeze (also known as the credit freeze), not the often offered, underachieving credit monitoring,” notes the U.S. Public Interest Research Group.

Step four: Keep an eye on other accounts, especially if you use a shared password for those and you’ve been the victim of a previous data breach.

Step five: It’s time to change your passwords again. Yes, it’s a pain, but it’s a critical step, especially if you’re using the same password on multiple sites.

More tech coverage from Fortune:

  • Crypto platform offers $500,000 “bug bounty” to hacker for returning stolen assets
  • What are stablecoins? Your guide to the fast-rising alternative to Bitcoin and Ethereum
  • Employees may need to keep up “the pretense of working” as automation spreads, says A.I. expert Kai-Fu Lee
  • USD Coin is the latest stablecoin to have its stability cast in doubt
  • Verizon offers free year of AMC+ to customers, but there’s a catch

Subscribe to Fortune Daily to get essential business stories straight to your inbox each morning.

About the Author
By Chris MorrisFormer Contributing Writer

Chris Morris is a former contributing writer at Fortune, covering everything from general business news to the video game and theme park industries.

See full bioRight Arrow Button Icon

Latest in Tech

Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025

Most Popular

Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Fortune Secondary Logo
Rankings
  • 100 Best Companies
  • Fortune 500
  • Global 500
  • Fortune 500 Europe
  • Most Powerful Women
  • Future 50
  • World’s Most Admired Companies
  • See All Rankings
Sections
  • Finance
  • Fortune Crypto
  • Features
  • Leadership
  • Health
  • Commentary
  • Success
  • Retail
  • Mpw
  • Tech
  • Lifestyle
  • CEO Initiative
  • Asia
  • Politics
  • Conferences
  • Europe
  • Newsletters
  • Personal Finance
  • Environment
  • Magazine
  • Education
Customer Support
  • Frequently Asked Questions
  • Customer Service Portal
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms Of Use
  • Single Issues For Purchase
  • International Print
Commercial Services
  • Advertising
  • Fortune Brand Studio
  • Fortune Analytics
  • Fortune Conferences
  • Business Development
  • Group Subscriptions
About Us
  • About Us
  • Editorial Calendar
  • Press Center
  • Work At Fortune
  • Diversity And Inclusion
  • Terms And Conditions
  • Site Map
  • About Us
  • Editorial Calendar
  • Press Center
  • Work At Fortune
  • Diversity And Inclusion
  • Terms And Conditions
  • Site Map
  • Facebook icon
  • Twitter icon
  • LinkedIn icon
  • Instagram icon
  • Pinterest icon

Latest in Tech

workers
AIdisruption
A Yale economist says AGI won’t automate most jobs—because they’re not worth the trouble
By Nick LichtenbergApril 4, 2026
30 minutes ago
Artemis II’s moonbound astronauts capture Earth’s brilliant blue beauty as they travel more than 110,000 miles from home
InnovationNASA
Artemis II’s moonbound astronauts capture Earth’s brilliant blue beauty as they travel more than 110,000 miles from home
By Marcia Dunn and The Associated PressApril 3, 2026
10 hours ago
man silhouette two computer screens
CybersecurityOnline
Internet Watch Foundation finds 260-fold increase in AI-generated CSAM in just one year, and ‘it’s the tip of the iceberg’
By Catherina GioinoApril 3, 2026
11 hours ago
A woman working alone in an office
AIJobs
MIT created duplicate AI workers to tackle thousands of different tasks. The verdict? Most of the time AI is still just ‘minimally sufficient’
By Tristan BoveApril 3, 2026
14 hours ago
Fortune 500 Power Moves: Which executives are gaining and losing power
C-SuiteFortune 500 Power Moves
Fortune 500 Power Moves: Which executives are gaining and losing power
By Fortune EditorsApril 3, 2026
15 hours ago
Dario Amodei sits in a white chair with his hands pressed together in front of a pink and orange background.
AIAI agents
The AI kill switch just got harder to find: LLM-powered chatbots will defy orders and deceive users if asked to delete another model, study finds
By Sasha RogelbergApril 3, 2026
15 hours ago

Most Popular

Google CEO Sundar Pichai says we’re just a decade away from a new normal of extraterrestrial data centers
Innovation
Google CEO Sundar Pichai says we’re just a decade away from a new normal of extraterrestrial data centers
By Fortune EditorsApril 3, 2026
23 hours ago
Gen Z fled San Francisco for Texas and Florida. Now they’re turning ‘welcomer cities’ into the next big tech towns
Real Estate
Gen Z fled San Francisco for Texas and Florida. Now they’re turning ‘welcomer cities’ into the next big tech towns
By Fortune EditorsApril 2, 2026
2 days ago
The Walmart billionaires next door: Quiet backlash is brewing against the heirs who remade the retailer’s hometown
Magazine
The Walmart billionaires next door: Quiet backlash is brewing against the heirs who remade the retailer’s hometown
By Fortune EditorsApril 3, 2026
1 day ago
Major 4-day workweek study suggests that when we work 5 days we spend one doing basically nothing
Success
Major 4-day workweek study suggests that when we work 5 days we spend one doing basically nothing
By Fortune EditorsApril 2, 2026
2 days ago
Current price of oil as of April 3, 2026
Personal Finance
Current price of oil as of April 3, 2026
By Fortune EditorsApril 3, 2026
19 hours ago
Current price of silver as of Friday, April 3, 2026
Personal Finance
Current price of silver as of Friday, April 3, 2026
By Fortune EditorsApril 3, 2026
20 hours ago

© 2026 Fortune Media IP Limited. All Rights Reserved. Use of this site constitutes acceptance of our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy | CA Notice at Collection and Privacy Notice | Do Not Sell/Share My Personal Information
FORTUNE is a trademark of Fortune Media IP Limited, registered in the U.S. and other countries. FORTUNE may receive compensation for some links to products and services on this website. Offers may be subject to change without notice.