An alleged data leak has customers who signed up for Trump Mobile wondering if their personal information might now be in the hands of malicious actors. However, the biggest concern might be what the alleged hack revealed about the company's operations.
Here's what to know
According to The Register, a ransomware group said it leaked 3,615 customer records containing personal and order information. The group claimed that the data had come from the Trump-branded wireless company, and that it had given the company an opportunity to pay the hackers not to release the information.
However, according to the hackers, Trump Mobile responded, "We have no team to handle this," and it also described anyone that hacks the company as "a terrorist."
A criminal group known as BYOD said that it had hacked its way into Trump Mobile's customer records and published the data, including contact information, addresses, and order details for thousands of people. Trump Mobile is only the third organization the group has named on its leak site.
After Trump Mobile allegedly failed to meet the hackers' demands, BYOD released the customers' data on a website.
"Well unfortunately for them, all 3,615 customers and their PII, alongside telecom details are now up for grabs," the group wrote, per The Register.
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BYOD also told International Cyber Digest that it first compromised a Liberty Mobile employee with credential-stealing malware, then used that foothold to reach Trump Mobile through the companies' mobile virtual network operator relationship. The group claimed it still had access and said neither wireless provider used multi-factor authentication.
Straight Arrow News, which The Register said first reported the breach, noted that the leaked data did not appear to include information related to President Donald Trump or his family.
However, the leak reportedly did include information associated with Eric Brunnett, the Trump Organization's vice president and chief information officer. According to his LinkedIn profile, he oversees information technology and information security across the organization, according to The Register.
More background
The incident was not the first time that Trump Mobile has run into security issues.
The Register also reported that another criminal group, EndZone, claimed to have breached Trump Mobile and posted a stolen dataset before the BYOD leak.
Additionally, in May, a security researcher who goes by "Louis" said he found a website flaw, which was later fixed, that exposed Trump Mobile customer details.
Louis told The Register that the exposed data could be retrieved with "a simple POST request," suggesting the problem did not require an especially sophisticated exploit.
What can be done?
Many of the vulnerabilities revealed by the hackers could be resolved with fairly simple fixes.
For example, BYOD reportedly told International Cyber Digest that neither Trump Mobile nor Liberty Mobile used any form of multi-factor authentication, a basic safeguard that can make stolen credentials harder to exploit after an infostealer infection, per The Register.
Additionally, if Trump Mobile really answered "we have no team to handle this," as the hackers alleged, then the company may not have had a dedicated breach-response process in place.
Where can I learn more?
With connected devices, cameras, and data becoming easier to hack, privacy concerns are increasing.
• At Tesla, employees allegedly shared private videos from car cameras, exposing drivers' intimate moments.
• Texas officials said Allstate used an unlawful data-collection scheme that triggered legal action.
• A whistleblower said an Elon Musk-linked program uploaded Social Security data into a vulnerable database.
• Consumers warned that some disposable chargers could take control of devices after being plugged in.
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