AT&T Data Breach and Arrest of Hacker: A Strange Twist
Despite payment and deletion, some AT&T customers and those they communicate with may still be at risk because others may have samples of unremoved material. The hacker who spoke to Wired, who received the payment from AT&T rather than Binns, said that in a strange twist in the case, Binns was arrested in Turkey in May for an unrelated breach dating to 2021.
Binns Indicted in T-Mobile Hack Case
Binns was indicted in 2022 on 12 counts related to the 2021 T-Mobile hack, which involved massive data theft from T-Mobile affecting more than 40 million people. He moved to Turkey from the United States in 2018 and the indictment was sealed until this year. Last September, the United States learned that he could be arrested in Turkey and extradited back to the U.S. because he did not have Turkish citizenship.
Binns and Allegations Against U.S. Authorities
Binns has repeatedly contacted U.S. authorities and accused the CIA and other agencies of conspiring to harm and entrap him. In 2020, he filed a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit against the FBI, CIA, and U.S. Special Operations Command. Binns claimed that CIA contractors had spied on him, experimented on him, harassed him, and even used a “psychotronic weapon” on him.
Binns’ Claims and Legal Troubles
Last October, Binns wrote to the U.S. District Court in Seattle, stating that he believed his behavior was influenced by a chip implanted in his brain as an infant. He claimed that the implant resulted in erratic behavior, irresistible impulses, artificial neurological problems, and possibly criminal behavior. The timeline suggests that if Binns was responsible for the AT&T breach, he allegedly did so after realizing he was facing legal troubles related to the T-Mobile hack.
