"With companies like T-Mobile and other telecom service providers operating in a space where national security and consumer protection interests overlap, we are focused on ensuring critical technical changes are made to telecommunications networks to improve our national cybersecurity posture and help prevent future compromises of Americans' sensitive data," said Loyaan Egal, Chief of the Enforcement Bureau at the FCC as well as chair of the Privacy and Data Protection Task Force, in the press release. The decree also requires T-Mobile to designate a chief information security officer to report relevant security matters to the board of directors; to adopt "data minimization, data inventory, and data disposal processes designed to limit its collection and retention of customer information"; to inventory critical assets; and to conduct independent third-party assessments. A T-Mobile spokesperson shared a statement with TechTarget Editorial in which the company affirmed its responsibility to secure customer data and stated that T-Mobile will continue to make significant security investments. Under the settlement, which the FCC announced on Monday, T-Mobile will pay a $15.75 million civil penalty to the U.S. Treasury and is required to "address foundational security flaws" while implementing a zero-trust architecture, network segmentation and MFA. T-Mobile reached a $31.5 million settlement with the Federal Communications Commission over the telecom giant's handling of multiple data breaches. The Commission will hold T-Mobile accountable for making these mandatory changes to comply with statutory and regulatory obligations going forward and to ensure that T-Mobile does not create unnecessary cybersecurity risk for others through its business practices (e.g., mergers and acquisitions and facilities-based services for MVNOs)," the decree read. After suffering several breaches, T-Mobile agreed to pay a $15.75 million civil penalty and make a $15.75 million investment to bolster its security over the next two years.
This Cyber News was published on www.techtarget.com. Publication date: Tue, 01 Oct 2024 18:13:06 +0000