United States Fines T-Mobile $60 Million for Failing to Prevent Unauthorized Access to Sensitive Customer Data

T-Mobile was fined $60 million by the Committee on Foreign Investment in the US (CFIUS) for negligence surrounding data breaches, reports Reuters. CFIUS penalized T-Mobile for failing to prevent or disclose unauthorized access to sensitive customer data.

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When T-Mobile merged with Sprint, it signed a national security agreement with CFIUS, which is what led to the fine earlier this year. T-Mobile is owned by German company Deutsche Telekom, and T-Mobile agreed to protect consumer data as part of the Sprint acquisition. Back in 2021, T-Mobile suffered a major breach that impacted over 100 million of its users, just a year after it acquired Sprint.

CFIUS does not typically name the companies that it fines, but T-Mobile has been called out in an effort to push companies to comply with national security rules associated with acquisitions.

In 2024, following an initial Notice of Penalty issued in 2023, CFIUS resolved an enforcement action against T-Mobile US, Inc. ("T-Mobile"), a telecommunications company, resulting in a $60 million penalty. As publicly disclosed by T-Mobile, the company entered into a National Security Agreement ("NSA") with CFIUS in 2018 in connection with T-Mobile's merger with Sprint and the foreign ownership of the resulting entity. CFIUS determined that between August 2020 and June 2021, in violation of a material provision of the NSA, T-Mobile failed to take appropriate measures to prevent unauthorized access to certain sensitive data and failed to report some incidents of unauthorized access promptly to CFIUS, delaying the Committee's efforts to investigate and mitigate any potential harm. CFIUS concluded that these violations resulted in harm to the national security equities of the United States. T-Mobile has worked with CFIUS to enhance its compliance posture and obligations and has committed to working cooperatively with the U.S. Government to ensure compliance with its obligations going forward.

T-Mobile told Reuters that it experienced technical issues when integrating with Sprint, which affected information from "a small number of law enforcement information requests." T-Mobile claims to have swiftly dealt with the issue and reported it "in a timely manner."

CFIUS said that T-Mobile's lack of timely reporting prevented CFIUS from investigating and mitigating potential harm to U.S. national security.

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Top Rated Comments

raythompsontn Avatar
8 months ago
Great, $60 million to CFIUS, $0 million to the people actually harmed. Fines are becoming cash cows for the other entities. That fine will not be paid by T-Mobile, but by the users through increased rates. The CFIUS effectively fined the users.
Score: 29 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Student of Life Avatar
8 months ago
They should also directly target fines to the executive officers involved. That way the feel the real burden of their own actions. Fining the company is nice in theory but in reality the fine will be moved to the consumer.
Score: 13 Votes (Like | Disagree)
coffeemilktea Avatar
8 months ago

Back in 2021 ('https://www.macrumors.com/2021/08/16/t-mobile-data-breach/'), T-Mobile suffered a major breach that impacted over 100 million of its users, just a year after it acquired Sprint.
"Suffered a major breach" As I recall, T-Mobile suffered three data breaches alone in 2021 (in January, August, and December), and a total of nine data breaches overall since the start of 2018.

At this point, their CEO might as well stand out on a street corner and hand out his customers' personal data, considering their cybersecurity measures are about as useful as a screen door on a submarine. Does T-Mobile recruit their security experts from the same place Boeing gets their engineers? ?
Score: 9 Votes (Like | Disagree)
antiprotest Avatar
8 months ago

How about some recompense for the customers? This almost reminds me of clash action lawsuits where the attorneys get millions and the plaintiffs get a ham sandwich.
You won't even get a slice of bread. And YOU are the one paying the fine for T-mobile failing to protect you. You are the one getting punished. So the hackers win, the CFIUS wins, t-mobile is ok, and you are both hacked and fined. It's so messed up.
Score: 9 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Apple_Robert Avatar
8 months ago
I don’t buy T-Mobile’s reply. Glad they were fined.
Score: 8 Votes (Like | Disagree)
jblank Avatar
8 months ago

You won't even get a slice of bread. And YOU are the one paying the fine for T-mobile failing to protect you. You are the one getting punished. It's so messed up.
Exactly. I'm very much a free-market capitalist but corporations have too much power and influence and too little accountability, in the US today. This "penalty" and all other fines/penalties like this, should go DIRECTLY to the customer.
Score: 7 Votes (Like | Disagree)