Daily Authority: ???? Another massive T-Mobile data breach

???? Happy Friday! I’m still a bit disappointed to see Stadia die this week (the subreddit is pretty bleak), but I did manage to find a free calendar of giant cats (shared at the bottom of the newsletter). You win some, you lose some.

If you’re a T-Mobile pre-paid or post-paid customer, we’ve got some bad news. The company announced it was the victim of yet another data breach, this time affecting 37 million accounts.

• As confirmed via a press release, the breach first took place on November 25 and wasn’t detected until January 5.
• The attacker stole the information using an API “without authorization.”
• T-Mobile claims that nothing that would “compromise the safety of customer accounts or finances” was impacted.
• In other words, sensitive information like payment details, social security numbers, government ID numbers, passwords/PINs, and other financial details were not exposed in the hack.
• However, other info like names, billing addresses, email addresses, phone numbers, dates of birth, T-Mobile account numbers, and plan details were stolen.
• This is just the latest in a string of data breaches from T-Mobile, with the most recent incidents happening in 2022 and 2021.
• The latter was significantly worse, exposing sensitive details like social security numbers, driver’s licenses, phone numbers, and physical addresses.
• Additionally, the company’s source code was reportedly stolen last year by the Lapsus cybercriminal group.
• Even if you aren’t a T-Mobile customer, we highly recommend setting up strong passwords and using a password manager.

As promised in the intro, today we have giant cats courtesy of the US Army Corps of Engineers (via Good News Network). Yes, you read that correctly. The Portland District of the government agency has released a free 2023 calendar that adds a little purr-sonality to some of its achievements with cats superimposed over the images.

The results are cats pawing at cranes, stretching on dams, and taking naps on massive civil infrastructure projects across Oregon and southwestern Washington. Since it’s a federal agency, you can download the calendar for free here.

Have a paw-sitively wonderful weekend,