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T-Mobile denies computer system was hacked

After a cyber-thief claimed that he hacked into T-Mobile's server and some bloggers deemed it a blow to mobile commerce, T-Mobile claims that no customer or company information was leaked.

According to T-Mobile, the information that appeared on the Web site appears to have come from a leaked document -- not stolen from the T-Mobile computer systems. A week into the carrier's investigation, T-Mobile has still found no evidence that customer information, or other company information, has been compromised

"Following a recent online posting that someone allegedly accessed T-Mobile servers, the company is conducting a thorough investigation and at this time has found no evidence that customer information, or other company information, has been compromised," T-Mobile said in an official statement.

"Reports to the contrary are inaccurate and should be corrected.

"T-Mobile continues to monitor this situation and as a precaution has taken additional measures to further ensure our customers' information and our systems are protected."

Under a post entitled "T-Mobile sources and data," an anonymous hacker calling himself Pwnmobile posted the following letter:

"Hello world,

"The U.S. T-Mobile network predominately uses the GSM/GPRS/EDGE 1900 MHz frequency-band, making it the largest 1900 MHz network in the United States. Service is available in 98 of the 100 largest markets and 268 million potential customers.

"Like Checkpoint, T-Mobile has been owned for some time. We have everything, their databases, confidential documents, scripts and programs from their servers, financial documents up to 2009.

"We already contacted with their competitors and they didn't show interest in buying their data - probably because the mails got to the wrong people - so now we are offering them for the highest bidder.

"Please only serious offers, don't waste our time.

"Contact: pwnmobile_at_safe-mail.net."

USA Today posted commentary on its Technology Live blog, asking rhetorically, "If you're a T-Mobile patron, your mind should now be at ease, right?" and went on to quote security firms predicting that corporate data breaches will increase over the course of the next year.

T-Mobile responded to blog post by saying that the document was indeed a copy of legitimate T-Mobile data, but did not contain customer information. While the company was unsure how exactly Pwnmobile got his hands on the data, the company says it is confident its servers were not comprised.

Any perceived vulnerability in wireless carriers' networks could be negatively impact the growth of mobile commerce, which is on the verge of exploding.

Big brands are investing in mobile commerce at an ever increasing rate, and mobile payments for virtual goods are seeing hockey-stick growth. Consumer awareness -- and confidence in the security of mobile transactions -- is key.

For now, T-Mobile's is sticking to its story that this was all some sort of hoax, and that the bloggers' speculation was a false alarm.

"As is our standard practice, customers can be assured if there is any evidence that customer or system information has been compromised, we would inform those affected as quickly as possible," T-Mobile said in the statement.