The man responsible for the 2021 T-Mobile data breach is finally facing justice. John Binns, an American citizen with a Turkish mother, was recently arrested in Turkey for hacking into T-Mobile’s systems and stealing customer data. Here’s what we know about the case:
– Binns bragged about breaking into T-Mobile’s systems in 2021, claiming the carrier had poor security measures.
– He stole the data of millions of customers and put it up for sale on dark web forums popular among cybercriminals.
– Binns has been living in Turkey for some time, making extradition to the US a challenge due to the complex relationship between the two countries.
– After an extradition request was approved by a local court, Turkish authorities detained Binns and he will be sent to the US to face charges.
Prosecutors believe that Binns started hacking T-Mobile around 2020 by scanning IP addresses associated with the carrier’s networks. He managed to access T-Mobile’s servers in Bellevue through an unprotected router and installed backdoors for future access.
Binns stole credentials to navigate through T-Mobile’s protected computers and networks, as well as additional server groups worldwide. He collaborated with four individuals to sell customer information, offering to sell data of over 124 million Americans for $270,000.
T-Mobile estimates that approximately 54 million customer records were stolen during the breach. The stolen information included names, social security numbers, birth dates, IMEI, and IMSI numbers.
This arrest marks a significant development in holding cybercriminals accountable for their actions. Stay tuned for more updates on this case as it unfolds.
