The US Public Interest Research Group (PIRG) has called for a federal investigation into Experian after a hacking incident left details of 15 million T-Mobile customers exposed.
T-Mobile uses the service of Decisioning Solutions, an Experian subsidiary to process information on subscribers.
The privacy group said that a data security breach that affected all of Experian’s credit report files would be a disaster because it contains data from 200 million Americans – not just T-Mobile customers.
PIRG, with the support from 28 other privacy bodies in the US, fears the hack may have extended to the rest of Experian’s credit database and emphasised holding the credit agency to account.
PIRG’s consumer programme director Ed Mierzwinski said: "Our group letter from over 25 national and state consumer privacy organisations asks the CFPB and FTC for a full investigation."
Mierzwinski added: "If the server holding the T-Mobile files was subject to fewer security protections than the full Experian credit reporting database, why?
"If it was subject to the same protections as the credit reporting server, doesn’t this raise the troubling possibility that the server holding highly sensitive credit and personal information of over 200 million Americans is vulnerable to a data hack by identity thieves?"
According to Experian, hackers could only get their hands into the users’ names, dates of birth, addresses, encrypted Social Security numbers.
However, no payment card or banking information was taken, according to the company.
