Ryan Reynolds-backed Mint Mobile discloses data breach

Mint Mobile, a mobile virtual network operator in the United States, has notified its customers of a personal information leak.

Mint Mobile, a US budget brand backed by actor Ryan Reynolds and currently undergoing acquisition by telecommunications giant T-Mobile for over $1.3 billion, disclosed that names, numbers, email addresses, SIM SN and IMEI numbers, along with service plan information of its customers, were leaked following a security breach.

The company chose not to publicly disclose the security breach, opting instead to send personal notification letters to affected individuals. The Verge journalists were the first to notice a Reddit thread where a customer shared details about the email they received.

"We are writing to inform you about a security incident we recently identified in which an unauthorized actor obtained some limited types of customer information. Our investigation indicates that certain information associated with your account was impacted," the email reads.

In the thread, some Mint Mobile clients mentioned not receiving any emails, suggesting that not all Mint Mobile users might have been affected. We've reached out to the company and will update the article as soon as we hear more.

Initially, the user who posted about the email speculated it might have been a scam. However, an official Mint Mobile Reddit account's subsequent comment suggests otherwise: "If you received a notice via email from [email protected] on December 22, 2023, it is from Mint and is not a scam."

While the company stated in its email that users didn't need to take any specific steps to secure their accounts, there is the potential for threat actors to exploit phone numbers and email addresses in various phishing and smishing campaigns. Therefore, Mint Mobile customers should remain vigilant for any suspicious or spam content via SMS or email.