Tag Archive for: database

Verizon’s employee database retrieved by hackers

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The American multinational telecommunication company, Verizon is currently facing peril. A hacker got access to the database which contained all the information of the company’s employees. This database contained the complete names of the employees, their ID numbers, email addresses, and phone numbers.

Source: The Verge

This directory of employees’ information is authorized as the unknown hacker called on some of the employees’ numbers to confirm it last week. In a conversation with the motherboard, the fraudster told the employees of the company are a fool.

The hacker has demanded a handsome amount of $250,000 from the corporation in return for not disclosing the personal information of their employees in public. He said that the company is free to communicate with them regarding this deal to save their employees’ personal information coming out in public.

Source: Economic Times

In his email to the motherboard, a spokesman of the multinational conglomerate confirmed this data breach. He said that the corporation was recently approached by a scammer. The fraudster threatened them, saying that he would release the employee database if he did not pay the ransom. Adding further, the spokesperson said that they believe the scammer has no subtle data and they have no plans to involve with the person anymore. He also said that the company takes the responsibility to safeguard their employee’s data quite seriously and they take necessary and strong steps to secure their entire corporation.

According to reports, this unknown scammer got access to the employee information directory by accidentally linking to the computer of a Verizon employee. In the email sent to Vice the hackers have mentioned that they compelled the staff of Verizon to grant them access to his computer by pretending themselves as internal support. After receiving permission to access the computer they initiated a code that collected all the data from the device.

Source: Deccan Herald

Although this database does not contain delicate information such as Social Security Numbers, passwords, or credit card numbers yet this data breach can be hazardous. The statement given by the spokesperson of the company that…

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Hacker steals Verizon employee database after tricking worker into granting remote access

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A database of contact information for hundreds of Verizon employees is in the hands of cybercriminals, after a member of staff was duped into granting a hacker access to their work PC.

The revelation of a data breach comes from security journalist Lorenzo Franceschi-Bicchierai of Vice, who describes how an anonymous hacker contacted him earlier this month to brag about what they had achieved:

“These employees are idiots and will allow you to connect to their PC under the guise that you are from internal support,” the hacker told Franceschi-Bicchierai in an online chat.

The compromised data included the full name, email address, corporate ID number, and phone number of hundreds of Verizon staff members.  Although Franceschi-Bicchierai was unable to confirm that all of the information was up-to-date, he was able to verify the legitimacy of some of the data by calling phone numbers that had been exposed, and asking individuals who answered to confirm their names and email address.

According to the hacker, having tricked a Verizon employee into granting them access to their corporate computer, they were then able to access an internal company tool to retrieve employee information, and scraped the database with a script.

In an extortion email to Verizon, the hacker claims to have requested a $250,000 reward for their efforts, threatening to leak the employee database online:

Please feel free to respond with an offer not to leak you’re [sic] entire employee database

Verizon confirmed to Vice that it had been contacted by the hacker, but downplayed the significance of the breach:

“A fraudster recently contacted us threatening to release readily available employee directory information in exchange for payment from Verizon. We do not believe the fraudster has any sensitive information and we do not plan to engage with the individual further. As always, we take the security of Verizon data very seriously and we have strong measures in place to protect our people and systems.”

It’s accurate that the breach would have been worse if it had included more sensitive information.  For instance, banking details, social security numbers, passwords, and the like would have potentially made the breach…

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Verizon downplays database hacked and held for ransom, security risk could remain

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A Verizon employee database was recently compromised with the hacker holding it for a $250,000 ransom. Verizon says it doesn’t believe it contains “any sensitive information” and stopped communication with the hacker. However, the list of details including employee email addresses, phone numbers, and more could present a risk for future attacks.

Reported by Motherboard (via The Verge) an anonymous hacker recently obtained a database containing Verizon employee information including full names, company ID numbers, email addresses, and phone numbers.

It’s uncertain how current the information is, but Motherboard called multiple people on the list and confirmed that four they got in touch with work at Verizon. “Around a dozen other numbers returned voicemails that included the names in the database, suggesting those are also accurate.”

The anonymous hacker told Motherboard they “obtained the data by convincing a Verizon employee to give them remote access to their corporate computer.”

That allowed the hacker to access Verizon’s internal systems and obtain the employee database. Then they told Verizon they wanted $250,000 to not leak the information.

Verizon officially responded to Motherboard about the incident:

“A fraudster recently contacted us threatening to release readily available employee directory information in exchange for payment from Verizon. We do not believe the fraudster has any sensitive information and we do not plan to engage with the individual further,” the spokesperson told Motherboard in an email. “As always, we take the security of Verizon data very seriously and we have strong measures in place to protect our people and systems.”

As noted by Motherboard, even though the information may not be deemed sensitive, the list of Verizon employee phone numbers, email addresses, and company ID numbers could be used to impersonate employees to attempt social engineering and SIM swap attacks.

Recently, T-Mobile saw a security breach that came through compromised employee accounts.

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