MTN Group announced it has experienced a cybersecurity incident that resulted in “unauthorised access to personal information of some MTN customers in certain markets”. In a short note published overnight the operator said that an unknown third-party has claimed to have accessed data linked to parts of its systems. At this stage MTN said it did not have any information to suggest that customers’ accounts and wallets have been directly compromised.The group immediately activated its cybersecurity response processes including informing the South African Police Service and the Hawks in South Africa. MTN was keen to stress that there was no evidence of compromise to any of its critical infrastructure, core MTN platforms or services. “Our core network, billing systems and financial services infrastructure remain secure and fully operational,” stated the operator.The operator is the latest in an increasingly long list of telcos to have been attacked. Earlier this week, South Korea’s SK Telecom detected signs that some USIM-related customer information may have been leaked due to a malicious code attack. The operator sprang into immediate action and offered customers its free SIM protection service and saw more than a million take up the offer in under 24 hours. Ants in your pantsCybersecurity firm Sygnia last month detailed Weaver Ant, a China-nexus threat actor infiltrating an unnamed but major telecom provider. Using web shells and tunnelling, the attackers maintained persistence and facilitated cyber espionage. The company said that threat actor aimed to gain and maintain continuous access to telecommunication providers and facilitate cyber espionage by collecting sensitive information. The list continues. In February, NTT Communications detected unauthorised access to its internal Order Information Distribution System. The breach potentially exposed sensitive data of approximately 17,891 corporate clients, including contract numbers, company names, contact details, and service usage information.In the same month, Orange Romania suffered a cyberattack attributed to the HellCat ransomware group. The attacker, known as “Rey,” exploited vulnerabilities in Orange’s Jira software and internal portals, leading to the exfiltration of over 6.5GB of data.This week, the leaders of a US congressional committee on Wednesday moved to force China’s three telecom giants to cooperate with an investigation into their alleged support for the Chinese military and government, according to letters seen by Reuters.