When telecom company T-Mobile had its customer data hacked last year, it reportedly hired a third party that tried to buy back the data to prevent it from being sold to anyone else. When the hackers posted that the data was for sale on hacking site RaidForums, an employee of the third-party company hired by T-Mobile responded and purchased a sample for $50,000 to verify the data’s authenticity. They then purchased the entirety of the data for about $150,000, under the condition that the hackers would delete their copy.
$200,000 later, however, T-Mobile was still fresh outta luck. The hackers reportedly kept their copy of the data and continued to sell it. Just another example of how paying up is not a good idea when you’ve been hacked.
