4:38 PM

A little old, but appropriate given the recent news stories — Hacker breaches T-Mobile systems, reads US Secret Service email:

The government is handling the case well away from the spotlight. The US Secret Service, which played the dual role of investigator and victim in the drama, said Tuesday it couldn’t comment on Jacobsen because the agency doesn’t discuss ongoing cases - a claim that’s perhaps undermined by the 19 other Operation Firewall defendants discussed in a Secret Service press release last fall. Jacobsen’s prosecutor, assistant US attorney Wesley Hsu, also declined to comment. “I can’t talk about it,” Hsu said simply. Jacobsen’s lawyer didn’t return a phone call.

T-Mobile, which apparently knew of the intrusions by July of last year, has not issued any public warning. Under California’s anti-identity theft law “SB1386,” the company is obliged to notify any California customers of a security breach in which their personally identifiable information is “reasonably believed to have been” compromised. That notification must be made in “the most expedient time possible and without unreasonable delay,” but may be postponed if a law enforcement agency determines that the disclosure would compromise an investigation.