T-Mobile customer data plundered thanks to bad API
A bug disclosed and patched last week by T-Mobile in a Web application interface allowed anyone to query account information by simply providing a phone number. That includes customer e-mail addresses, device identification data, and even the answers to account security questions. The bug, which was patched after T-Mobile was contacted by Motherboard's Lorenzo Franceschi-Bicchierai on behalf of an anonymous security researcher, was apparently also exploited by others, giving them access to information that could be used to hijack customers' accounts and move them to new phones. Attackers could potentially gain access to other accounts protected by SMS-based "two factor" authentication simply by acquiring a T-Mobile SIM card.