Millions Of T-Mobile Customers Have Data Stolen

Hackers have stolen personal information relating to 15 million T-Mobile customers and potential customers in the US, it has been revealed.

The data includes birth dates, home addresses and Social Security numbers and was taken when credit agency Experian (Other OTC: EXPGF - news) , which T-Mobile uses to check the credit rating of potential customers, was targeted by hackers.

Anyone who signed up, or attempted to sign up, with T-Mobile in the US between 1 September, 2013, and 16 September 2015 could be affected.

The two companies have assured customers that banking information was not included in the data which was taken, and there is so far no indication that the information which was stolen has been “used inappropriately”.

Commenting on the breach, T-Mobile CEO John Legere said he was “incredibly angry” and would be undertaking a full review of his company’s relationship with Experian.

“I take our customer and prospective customer privacy VERY seriously,” he said in a statement.

“This is no small issue for us.

“I do want to assure our customers that neither T-Mobile’s systems nor network were part of this intrusion.”

Responding to tweets from concerned T-Mobile users Legere said on the social media site that he was “moving as fast as possible to get an alternate option in place”.

For their part, Experian have said they notified the appropriate authorities as soon as the breach was discovered and are offering customers whose data has been stolen free credit monitoring services for two years.

They are currently in the process of notifying the individuals affected, and have set up an information page to answer any questions customers may have.

Experian's share price dropped almost 5% on Friday following the news.

This is the latest in a series of high-profile hacks in recent years, targeting businesses such as Sony Pictures, Home Depot (Swiss: HD.SW - news) , eBay and adultery website Ashley Madison.

T-Mobile is the third biggest mobile network in the US, having surpassed Sprint earlier this year, following behind Verizon (NYSE: VZ - news) and AT&T (Sao Paolo: ATTB34F.SA - news) .