{"id":8642,"date":"2015-09-23T13:28:04","date_gmt":"2015-09-23T17:28:04","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.nccomputertech.com\/?p=8642"},"modified":"2015-09-23T13:28:04","modified_gmt":"2015-09-23T17:28:04","slug":"att-sues-former-employees-for-allegedly-unlocking-hundreds-of-thousands-contract-bound-phones","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nccomputertech.com\/techtalk\/2015\/09\/23\/att-sues-former-employees-for-allegedly-unlocking-hundreds-of-thousands-contract-bound-phones\/","title":{"rendered":"AT&T sues former employees for allegedly unlocking “hundreds of thousands” contract-bound phones"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

AT&T is suing three of its former employees that it accuses of helping to unlock hundreds of thousands of cell phones so the devices could work with any other wireless carrier. Marc Sapatin, Nguyen Lam, and Kyra Evans all worked at an AT&T call center in Washington in 2013, where it\u2019s claimed they “perpetuated the Unlock Scheme by creating, distributing, and placing on AT&T’s computer systems a ‘malware’ program designed to fraudulently, and without authorization, transmit unlock requests that unlocked hundreds of thousands of phones from exclusive use on AT&T’s network,\u201d according to the complaint<\/a> filed in Seattle\u2019s US district court.<\/p>\n

AT&T claim that the accused trio collaborated with Anaheim-based company Swift Unlocks in the scheme. The SwiftUnlocks website offers a service that unlocks a variety of phones for a fee. It\u2019s alleged that the company owner and operator, Prashant Vira, paid Evans at least $20,000 “for her placement and\/or execution of the malware programs on AT&T’s protected computer systems for the purpose of securing the fraudulent unlock.” AT&T further alleged that Swift Unlocks paid Sapatin – who also attempted to involve other AT&T employees in the fraud – at least $10,500. No payments to Lam were alleged.<\/p>\n

The malware allowed commands to be issued from a remote, unauthorized server and used “valid customer service personnel identification numbers” to process automated unlock requests without proper authorization, AT&T wrote. The company added that it believed 50 \u201cJohn Doe Defendants\u201d helped develop the software.<\/p>\n

AT&T is seeking financial damages and injunctions preventing the defendants from continuing the alleged activity. The company gave the following statement to ars technica<\/a>: “We\u2019re seeking damages and injunctive relief from several people who engaged in a scheme a couple of years ago to illegally unlock wireless telephones used on our network. It\u2019s important to note that this did not involve any improper access of customer information, or any adverse effect on our customers.”<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Source: AT&T sues former employees for allegedly unlocking “hundreds of thousands” contract-bound phones – TechSpot<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

AT&T is suing three of its former employees that it accuses of helping to unlock hundreds of thousands of cell […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","ast-disable-related-posts":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[10],"tags":[101,175,657,1126],"class_list":["post-8642","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-technology","tag-att","tag-cell-phones","tag-malwate","tag-unlock"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/papNkV-2fo","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":9052,"url":"https:\/\/nccomputertech.com\/techtalk\/2016\/10\/24\/this-week-in-tech-585-i-cant-wait-till-2021\/","url_meta":{"origin":8642,"position":0},"title":"This Week in Tech 585: I Can’t Wait Till 2021","author":"NCCT","date":"October 24, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=RVySXlkE5_U A massive botnet of IoT devices took down Dyne DNS, knocking several major US websites off line in a DDOS attack Friday. Hackers were able to break into John Podesta and Colin Powell's Gmail accounts via a simple phishing scheme. Both Microsoft and Apple will hold events next week\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Technology"","block_context":{"text":"Technology","link":"https:\/\/nccomputertech.com\/techtalk\/category\/technology\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/img.youtube.com\/vi\/RVySXlkE5_U\/0.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":9305,"url":"https:\/\/nccomputertech.com\/techtalk\/2018\/02\/26\/this-week-in-tech-655-banana-is-phone\/","url_meta":{"origin":8642,"position":1},"title":"This Week in Tech 655: Banana Is Phone","author":"NCCT","date":"February 26, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"https:\/\/youtu.be\/3Ndfvf28O5o Samsung announces 2 new phones as Mobile World Congress kicks off in Barcelona. iCloud keys are stored in China. All 150 new emojis for 2018 revealed. Nokia's newest phone is a nod to The Matrix. GDPR and H.R. 1865 and their implications. Intel knew about flaws in chips but\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Technology"","block_context":{"text":"Technology","link":"https:\/\/nccomputertech.com\/techtalk\/category\/technology\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/img.youtube.com\/vi\/3Ndfvf28O5o\/0.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":9376,"url":"https:\/\/nccomputertech.com\/techtalk\/2018\/07\/15\/this-week-in-tech-675-this-show-does-not-care-about-humans\/","url_meta":{"origin":8642,"position":2},"title":"This Week in Tech 675: This Show Does Not Care About Humans","author":"NCCT","date":"July 15, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"https:\/\/youtu.be\/6okjlrV5zgg Amazon\u2019s juggernaut, HBO vs Netflix, Musk madness, and more. --Do Apple's new MacBooks fix the company's keyboard woes? --Amazon Prime Day starts tomorrow. Will it be worth the hype? Will it push Amazon's share of the e-commerce market past 50%? --Folding tablets. Phones with 9 cameras. What is next?\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Apple"","block_context":{"text":"Apple","link":"https:\/\/nccomputertech.com\/techtalk\/category\/apple\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/img.youtube.com\/vi\/6okjlrV5zgg\/0.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":8046,"url":"https:\/\/nccomputertech.com\/techtalk\/2015\/04\/16\/att-but-not-verizon-and-comcast-sue-fcc-over-net-neutrality\/","url_meta":{"origin":8642,"position":3},"title":"AT&T, but not Verizon and Comcast, sue FCC over net neutrality","author":"NCCT","date":"April 16, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"Out of the many lawsuits filed this week against the Federal Communications Commission, just one came from a major Internet service provider: AT&T. AT&T made no secret of its opposition to the FCC's net neutrality order, but it was reported last month that trade groups rather than individual ISPs would\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Technology"","block_context":{"text":"Technology","link":"https:\/\/nccomputertech.com\/techtalk\/category\/technology\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/nccomputertech.com\/techtalk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/04\/att-logo-300x150.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":6892,"url":"https:\/\/nccomputertech.com\/techtalk\/2014\/11\/19\/att-kills-the-permacookie-stops-tracking-customers-internet-usage-for-now\/","url_meta":{"origin":8642,"position":4},"title":"AT&T kills the ‘permacookie,’ stops tracking customers’ Internet usage (for now)","author":"NCCT","date":"November 19, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"In recent weeks, Verizon and AT&T have been caught up in a privacy firestorm over their use of so-called \u201cpermacookies,\u201d a method of tracking what their users do while browsing the Web with the intent of sharing that data with advertisers. Verizon\u2019s permacookie program lives on, but AT&T has ceased\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Security"","block_context":{"text":"Security","link":"https:\/\/nccomputertech.com\/techtalk\/category\/security\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":5819,"url":"https:\/\/nccomputertech.com\/techtalk\/2014\/06\/19\/chinese-govt-reveals-microsofts-secret-list-of-android-killer-patents\/","url_meta":{"origin":8642,"position":5},"title":"Chinese gov\u2019t reveals Microsoft\u2019s secret list of Android-killer patents","author":"NCCT","date":"June 19, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"For more than three years now, Microsoft has held to the line that it has loads of patents that are infringed by Google's Android operating system. \"Licensing is the solution,\" wrote the company's head IP honcho in 2011, explaining Microsoft's decision to sue Barnes & Noble's Android-powered Nook reader. Microsoft\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Microsoft"","block_context":{"text":"Microsoft","link":"https:\/\/nccomputertech.com\/techtalk\/category\/microsoft\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nccomputertech.com\/techtalk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8642","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/nccomputertech.com\/techtalk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/nccomputertech.com\/techtalk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nccomputertech.com\/techtalk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nccomputertech.com\/techtalk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8642"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/nccomputertech.com\/techtalk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8642\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nccomputertech.com\/techtalk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8642"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nccomputertech.com\/techtalk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8642"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nccomputertech.com\/techtalk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8642"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}