Mint Mobile Confirms Security Breach After User Data Compromised

Mint Mobile disclosed a recent data breach incident wherein unauthorized threat actors accessed personal information of its users, which can result in potential SIM swap attacks.

Mint Mobile, US-based mobile virtual network operator (MVNO) that offers low cost, pre-paid plans. In March 2023, it was acquired by the US-based T-Mobile for $1.35 billion.

On December 22, the company started sending email notices to its users about the security breach. Titled, ‘‘Important information regarding your account,’’ the email notified impacted customers that a hacker had stolen certain information related to their account.

“We are writing to inform you about a security incident we recently identified in which an unauthorized actor obtained some limited types of customer information,’’ the email notice read. ‘’Our investigation indicates that certain information associated with your account was impacted,’’ it continued.

The exposed customer information includes, customer name, telephone number, email address, SIM serial number and IMEI number (a device identifier similar to a serial number), and a brief detail about the purchased service plan.

Mint assured its customers that they had already resolved the issue and had partnered with third-party security experts to mitigate the threat and prevent occurrence of similar incidents in the future.

It also stated that its ‘’data collection policy is one of the most important ways in which we ensure the privacy and security of our subscribers. We never collect dates of birth or government-assigned identifiers like social security numbers or driver license.”

The company said that there was no need for the impacted customers to take any action to secure their accounts. In case of any questions, they were directed to contact the given customer support number (949-704-1162).

In a public post, a Mint moderator on Reddit informed users about the email notice and customer support number. ‘’If you received a notice via email from no-reply@account.mintmobile.com on December 22, 2023, it is from Mint and is not a scam. The Customer Care number was setup to handle specific questions about this communication.’’

Previously, in 2021, the company suffered a data breach wherein a small number of users phone numbers were ported to another carrier, by an unauthorized threat actor.