T-Mobile to Pay $350M to Customers Affected by 2021 Data Breach

T-Mobile, the U.S. telecommunications giant, is set to distribute $350 million to customers affected by a massive data breach that occurred in 2021. According to an update on the t-mobile Data Breach Settlement website, payments will commence in April.

The breach, which affected approximately 76 million people, exposed sensitive information such as names, Social Security numbers, and birth dates. Those who incurred out-of-pocket losses may be eligible to claim up to $25,000, while others may receive $25 or $100 for California residents, with no additional steps required for eligible class members.

The data breach was executed by John Binns, an American hacker based in Turkey. He exploited a misconfigured internet-exposed router to access T-Mobile's internal network. Over several weeks starting in early 2021, Binns used brute force attacks and specialized tools to breach the company's servers.

The payments are the result of a class action lawsuit that T-Mobile decided to settle rather than fight in court. People who used T-Mobile services in 2021 can reach out to the administrator on the settlement's website or call 1-833-512-2314 for more information.