T-Mobile’s chief executive praised for data-breach response

The cellular company’s head, John Legere, reached out to consumers on Twitter after a security hack affected about 15 million of them.

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The latest company to face such a nightmare is T-Mobile, but it’s CEO, John Legere, is being praised for his response.

On Oct. 1, T-Mobile published a letter to consumers from Legere. “I’ve always said that part of being the Un-carrier means telling it like it is,” he writes. “Whether it’s good news or bad, I’m going to be direct, transparent and honest.”

Legere certainly delivered.

The problem was actually with Experian, which processes T-Mobile’s credit applications. Roughly 15 million people might be affected by this data breach. Legere detailed the facts in his letter to T-Mobile users:

These records include information such as name, address and birthdate as well as encrypted fields with Social Security number and ID number (such as driver’s license or passport number), and additional information used in T-Mobile’s own credit assessment. Experian has determined that this encryption may have been compromised. We are working with Experian to take protective steps for all of these consumers as quickly as possible.

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