T-Mobile has experienced a massive internal breach in their system that allowed a former retail store owner to capitalize on an illegal scheme that went on for years.
The hacker profited $25 million from the hacking of multiple systems and the collection of illegally obtained T-Mobile employee credentials.
The T-Mobile hacker's name is Argishti Khudaverdyan, 44, of Burbank, who was a former T-Mobile retail store owner in Eagle Rock, California.
Khudaverdyan is accused of running a scheme that took place between 2014 and 2019 in which he unlocked devices from the cellular networks of their vendors, allowing customers to use those devices with other telecommunication providers.
T-Mobile Unlock and Unblock Scheme
T-Mobile's hacker, Argishti Khudaverdyan, was found guilty on federal charges for the $25 million crime scheme he committed through illegally accessing the company's internal computer systems and stealing T-Mobile employee credentials to illegally "unlock" and "unblock" mobile devices.
According to the Department of Justice, Khudaverdyan "was found guilty of one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud, three counts of wire fraud, two counts of accessing a computer to defraud and obtain value, one count of intentionally accessing a computer without authorization to obtain information, one count of conspiracy to commit money laundering, five counts of money laundering, and one count of aggravated identity theft."
Khudaverdyan engaged in fraudulent activity involving the unblocking and unlocking of mobile devices on the networks of T-Mobile, AT&T, and Sprint, amongst other carriers, between August 2014 and June 2019.
By removing the unlock, the phones were able to be sold on the black market, and T-Mobile customers were able to stop using T-Mobile's services, which deprived T-Mobile of income generated from customers' equipment installment plans and service contracts.
This scheme went on during a period of time wherein mobile device providers, including T-Mobile, "locked" the phones of their customers, making it such that the phones could only be used on the provider's network until the consumers' phone and service contracts had been fulfilled.
It was necessary for customers to have their phones "unlocked" before they could switch to a rival carrier. In the event that a customer's phone is lost or stolen, the carrier could "block" it to protect the customer's information.
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T-Mobile's Breach
The T-Mobile hacker obtained unauthorized access to the company's devices through numerous illegal means, such as targeting T-Mobile employees with phishing emails and social engineering tactics to the T-Mobile IT Help Desk, according to BleepingComputer.
In addition, Khudaverdyan was also able to obtain employee information and credentials through working with call centers overseas.
He then used these credentials to gain unauthorized access to T-Mobile systems, which allowed him to unlock and unblock cellphones as well as target higher-level employees by gathering their personal information and resetting their company passwords.
The T-Mobile hacker used phishing emails to trick T-Mobile employees into logging in with their employee credentials, allowing him to gather the employees' information and fraudulently unlock the mobile devices.
Khudaverdyan and others were able to compromise and steal the credentials of over 50 different T-Mobile employees working in different locations across the United States. As a result, they were able to unlock and unblock hundreds of thousands of cellphones over the course of the scheme's existence.
Brokers, email solicitations, and websites such as unlocks247.com were all channels wherein he advertised these types of services.
He even marketed false claims that the unlocks he provided were "official" T-Mobile unlocks, despite that being untrue.
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