Breach Brief – Verizon

Published On July 19, 2017 | By Tom Huskerson | Breach Briefs

Millions of Verizon customer’s information has been exposed online. Last Wednesday UpGuard, an Internet security firm, reported finding millions Verizon accounts exposed on an unsecured server. Customer information included subscriber’s names, cellphone number, and the account PIN. Exposed PINs are the most critical because criminals could fool a customer-service representative into giving them access to a subscriber’s account allowing them make changes.

Reports indicate the breach exposed 14 million accounts. But a statement from Verizon claims the number was actually 6 million. UpGuard informed Verizon of the exposed data on June 13. According to CNN the problem was fixed by June 22nd.

Customers who called Verizon customer service in the past six months had their data exposed through call logs that were generated as a result of the call. Verizon said the exposed data was for a “wireline portal.” These are accounts for residential and business hardline services and not Verizon Wireless. However, cellphone numbers were included in the breach because they were used for customer contact purposes.

According to ZDNET the breach was the result of an Israeli company, NICE Systems, who mistakenly marked the information as public when storing it on a server.

Verizon has not offered a way for customers to check whether their data was exposed but advises customers to change their PINs immediately as a precaution.

 

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About The Author

Tom Huskerson Bio Born in Richmond Virginia Tom Huskerson is a military veteran who settled in California after his discharge. Tom attended Santa Barbara City College where he began his writing career as a campus reporter. He worked as an intern news reporter for the Santa Barbara News-Press writing feature stories before moving on to San Francisco. At San Francisco State University Tom studied broadcast communications and began to focus on the Internet. He completed his graduate thesis on Internet advertising. Tom was the first student to ever focus on the Internet as a graduate student at San Francisco State University. After graduation he went to work for Zona Research in California’s Silicone Valley. As a research associate Tom supported senior analyst writing on the latest developments in the Internet industry. During the dot com boom Tom worked for several web businesses as a market researcher and analyst. As a writer and researcher Tom has authored various technical works including a training program for Charles Schwab security. Other projects included professional presentations on workplace violence and hiring security contractors. Tom has also written both fiction and non-fiction works and blogging for a travel website. He has published two books of short stories and completed two novels. Tom is the owner of Scribe of Life Literature and EbonyCandle.com. Tom is not the chief editor for the OnTechStreet. com. A news and information blog that focuses on tech news for African-Americans. The blog is the result of his desire to inform the African American community of the dangers and benefits of the cyber age. In his blog Tom reports on information security, new and analysis, scams and hoaxes, legal happenings and various topics that arise from the age of information. Tom believes that technology is a necessary tool for black people and they should know what is happening. Tom writes believing that techno speak is for the professional and that valuable information can be communicated using plain language. As a result he has embraced the motto, Less Tech, More Knowledge.

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