Verizon owns up to data leak compromising millions of customers

Bad news for Verizon customers this month. Last week the telecom giant admitted that personal data belonging to about six million customers was “leaked” online. The issue was discovered by UpGuard, the same net security firm that found leaked voter data last month. In its initial report, UpGuard reportedly told Verizon the leak could affect up to 14 million customers, but later cut that estimate by more than half. The reason given for the leak? Human error, in the form of a “misconfigured security setting” on a cloud server.

According to the report, the “leak” put customer names, contact information, and PIN codes up on the web. These PIN codes are not for credit or debit cards. They are used when customers call in to speak to a Verizon representative. That’s not to say those PINs do not put consumers in a vulnerable position. UpGuard’s Dan O’Sullivan, told CNN, “A scammer could receive a two-factor authentication message and potentially change it or alter [the authentication] to his liking… Or they could cut off access to the real account holder.”

To continue reading this article, click on the following link!

https://robertgillings.blogspot.com/2017/07/verizon-owns-up-to-data-leak.html