SEATTLE — T-Mobile is not fully cooperating with an investigation into its data security practices, the Washington state Attorney General’s Office alleged in a recent lawsuit.
The Bellevue-based wireless carrier “failed to respond to numerous requests” for documents relating to a massive data breach in August 2021, according to the petition filed in King County Superior Court last Thursday.
The 2021 breach exposed the personal information, including names and Social Security numbers, of nearly 80 million U.S. residents. T-Mobile settled with members of a class-action lawsuit for $350 million last year. Earlier this year, T-Mobile suffered two more data breaches, one of which compromised the data of 37 million U.S. customers.
The lawsuit alleges that T-Mobile has refused to turn over “multiple categories” of documents to investigators.
“Throughout this investigation, T-Mobile has either provided insufficient responses, or refused to respond outright, to the State’s Civil Investigative Demands (CIDs), all while continuing to suffer repeated data breaches,” Attorney General Bob Ferguson’s office said in the filing.
The company has allegedly withheld internal security audits, board meeting minutes, and materials related to previous security breaches, claiming that they are “privileged” or beyond the scope of the state’s investigation, the filing said.
“We are continuing to review this filing,” said a T-Mobile spokesperson on Tuesday.
The spokesperson said Ferguson and his office were given access to more than 100 pages of narrative responses and thousands of documents. “Our response will provide the court with a more complete record of this investigation.”
Ferguson is asking for a court order that would force T-Mobile to comply with the document requests.
Other regulatory agencies, including the Federal Communications Commission, have launched separate investigations into T-Mobile’s data security practices.
The state Attorney General’s Office could not be reached for comment on Tuesday.
