Data Protection Advised For Tennesseans Affected By 2021 T-Mobile Data Breach
Press Release from the Office of the TN Attorney General:
Attorney General Herbert H. Slatery III is urging all Tennessee residents who may have been affected by the data breach announced by T-Mobile in August 2021 to take appropriate steps to protect their information from identity theft.
On August 17th, T-Mobile reported a massive data breach compromising the sensitive personal information of millions of current, former, and prospective T-Mobile customers. The breach impacted more than 53 million individuals, including 757,354 Tennessee residents. Among other categories of impacted information, millions had their names, dates of birth, Social Security Numbers, and driver’s license information compromised.
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Recently, a large subset of the information compromised in the breach has emerged for sale on the dark web—a hidden portion of the Internet where cyber criminals buy, sell, and track personal information. Many individuals have since received alerts through various identity theft protection services informing them that their information was found online in connection with the breach, confirming that impacted individuals are at heightened risk for identity theft.
“Don’t wait to protect your personal information,” said General Slatery. “Even if you were not a T-Mobile customer at the time of the breach, you could still be affected because of the large impact on former and prospective T-Mobile customers. We encourage residents who received notice to heed this alert and take steps to monitor and protect their information for identity theft.”
Protecting your information from identify theft:
• Monitor your credit. Credit monitoring services track your credit report and alert you whenever a change is made, such as a new account or a large purchase. Most services will notify you within 24 hours of any change to your credit report.
• Consider placing a free credit freeze on your credit report. Identity thieves will not be able to open a new credit account in your name while the freeze is in place. You can place a credit freeze by contacting each of the three major credit bureau:
– Equifax | https://www.equifax.com/personal/credit-report-services/credit-freeze/
+1 (888) 766-0008
– Experian | https://www.experian.com/freeze/center.html
+1 (888) 397-3742
– TransUnion | https://www.transunion.com/credit-freeze
+1 (800) 680-7289
• Place a fraud alert on your credit report. A fraud alert tells lenders and creditors to take extra steps to verify your identity before issuing credit. You can place a fraud alert by contacting any one of the three major credit bureaus.
• Additional Resources. If you believe you are a victim of identity theft, go to identitytheft.gov for assistance. In Tennessee you can contact the Identity Crimes Unit at 615-251-5185 or visit www.tn.gov/safety
