Slashdot Mirror
T-Mobile UK Employees Sold Customers' Information
angry tapir writes "Workers at T-Mobile UK have been selling customer data to brokers who worked for the competition, according to T-Mobile and the UK's Information Commissioner's Office. Criminal charges are being prepared. 'Many thousands' of customers' account details, millions of records, were sold to several brokers for substantial amounts of money, the ICO said. In an announcement (PDF) from the ICO, the agency does not name the operator involved, but T-Mobile acknowledged that it had alerted ICO about the data breach. The BBC reports that after the other mobile operators said they were not the subject of the investigation, T-Mobile confirmed its involvement."
-1 Stockholm Syndrome.
"But the ETF is so high becomes he loves me..."
At what point do the competitors have to take responsibility for purchasing the data? It seems that they should have known the data wasn't kosher.
The likelihood of valuable data being exploited is proportional to it's marketability. The more important the data, the more likely it will be stolen or otherwise exploited. It doesn't matter if it's a company, a utility or a government.
Oliver's law of assumed responsibility: If you're seen fixing it, you will be blamed for breaking it.
I wish this problem was exclusive to T Mobile, I really do. The sad thing is that I've been on two different networks and somehow firms seem to get hold of my mobile number and start calling me offering me an upgrade. The most accurate firm was one who had my full Orange account details, so why wouldn't you trust a firm who knows where you live? When I reported this to Orange they acted surprised but did absolutely nothing about it, probably because data is flowing far too freely around their organisation. My current provider isn't immune either, around 12 months on my previous contract with O2 I had multiple companies each trying to sell me a new contract. They claim it's just on an autodialer of numbers to call and have no personal information about me. However the fact that someone knows I'm on O2 means enough personal data is leaking.
The entire UK (Is it any different elsewhere?) Mobile Phone industry works on ethical standard that would shame organised crime, among the many abuses I've come across :
* Deceptive tariffs, resulting in unexpectedly large bills, especially the roaming data ( I used to handle the phone admin for a medium sized company, we had a user come back from overseas trips with bills up over a thousand pounds when the free roaming data the salesman told us we'd bought turned out to have a fair use limit of 10MB...)
* The reverse billing text message scam - some of the companies operating this make tens of millions, and have been fined hundreds of thousands for repeated abuses - they are still in business.
* your bank details get passed on and you are billed for insurance you never asked for
* BUYING the stolen data
Think of these guys as a bit like Chris in the Sopranos, They got impatient and wanted a piece of the action for themselves. They may get a slap on the wrist, but the business is full of worse criminals.
I'm a T-Mobile Customer. I think they did the right thing, coming forward when it was obvious they had a data breach.
Data breach? That was a few months ago when they lost their entire customer database along with credit card numbers. This time they sold their data.
T-Mobile are the worst phone network going. Their coverage sucks, their customer service sucks, they are willing to abuse their own customers to make a few quid. The only thing going for them is the price.
Interestingly, some of the UK mobile operators have bankers licences and are therefore governed by the FSA (financial services authority). The FSA defines a PEP marker (Politically Exposed Person) on records and these typically have greater sensitivity than the rest and each access is audited. Anyone who thinks they are 'famous' can become a PEP on request - politicians, david beckham's, recognised government officials, company execs are using this device more and more.
Whilst it might seem like a good idea to register yourself as a PEP (e.g. I'm famous on slashdot), it can be a pain in the arse because some banks etc will not send out new credit cards directly to a PEP.
Using alias's is illegal if done incorrectly. Using an alias as a "stage name" is OK for celebs, but not so great for politicians. Also, it's not a great idea to buy a phone contract with an (!deedpoll) alias.