Syniverse, a company that is responsible for routing hundreds of billions of text messages a year for hundreds of different carriers, which include T-Mobile, Verizon, and AT&T, has just revealed to government regulators that a hacker has actually gotten unauthorized access to its own database for a total of five years already. The company and carriers have not yet been able to reveal whether the hackers were able to access text messages of customers.
Syniverse Aware of 'Unauthorized Access'
An SEC filing a week before noted that in May 2021, Syniverse actually became aware of the unauthorized access towards its own operations as well as information tech systems by a certain unknown individual or organization. Quite promptly upon Syniverse's detection of the said unauthorized access, the company launched an internal investigation.
Aside from just the internal investigation, Syniverse also notified law enforcement and started remedial actions, as well as engaged the services of other specialized legal counsel along with other incident response professionals. Syniverse noted that its own investigation had revealed that the whole unauthorized access started in May 2016.
Customer Data Compromised?
It was also noted that the individual or organization that had been able to gain unauthorized access to the databases within its own network had done so on several occasions. It was also noted that login information that allows access to or from the EDT or Electronic Data Transfer environment was compromised for around 235 of its own customers. Potential text hacks can lead to things like text raffle scams.
Syniverse is reportedly not revealing more details on this issue. According to a story by ArsTechnica, a certain Syniverse spokesperson actually provided a general statement that technically just mostly repeats what is found in the SEC filing. Syniverse also reportedly declined to answer the specific questions asked whether the text messages were exposed as well as about the impact on major US carriers.
Read Also: RCS vs SMS: Verizon to Adopt Google's Messages Feature, But Apple is Not On Board
Syniverse in SEC Filing
Syniverse noted that given the confidential nature of their relationship along with their customers as well as the pending law enforcement investigation, it was noted that they do not anticipate any further public statements regarding the particular matter. The SEC filing is actually a preliminary proxy statement that relates to a pending merger with a certain special purpose acquisition company that is said to help make Syniverse a publicly traded firm.
The document was reportedly filed by M3-Brigade Acquisition II Corp., the known bank-check company. As a general standard when it comes to SEC filings, the document that discusses risk factors for investors, in this case would include security-related risk factors that were demonstrated by the whole Syniverse database hack.
Syniverse is known to route messages for a whopping 300 operators. The company notes that its intercarrier messaging service processes over 740 billion messages every year for more than 300 mobile operators around the world. Google Messages' new feature protects users' SMS, and all that needs to be done is to enable it.
Related Article: Google Probes Carrier Linking SMS Ad For Verification--Company's Security Director Says the Ads Do Not Come From Them
This article is owned by Tech Times
Written by Urian B.
