A New York-based law firm says it is investigating T-Mobile’s response to the alleged theft of tens of millions of customer records on behalf of the company’s investors.
In a press release issued on Sunday, Pomerantz LLP said its investigation “concerns whether T-Mobile and certain of its officers and/or directors have engaged in securities fraud or other unlawful business practices” connected with the discovery and disclosure that the company had suffered a cybersecurity incident.
On August 17, T-Mobile said it learned one week prior that hackers were claiming in online forums to have a massive cache of personal information related to the wireless phone company’s consumer and business customers.
“We immediately began an exhaustive investigation into these claims and brought in world-leading cybersecurity experts to help with our assessment,” a T-Mobile spokesperson wrote in a note to customers.
But the company didn’t publicly disclose the incident until a reporter from Vice News published a story on it. One individual — a 21-year-old American who is living in Turkey — has claimed responsibility for the attack, telling journalists that he allegedly targeted the wireless phone company because of its lackluster security practices.
Pomerantz said T-Mobile’s affirmation of the cybersecurity incident caused its stock price to fall more than $4 per share, to close just above $140 a share on August 16.
No T-Mobile executive has been formally accused of any wrongdoing, and Pomerantz made no allegations to that extent, but encouraged shareholders with concerns of potential securities fraud or other malfeasance to contact their New York office.
