Up to 14 million Verizon subscribers may have had their sensitive data exposed by Nice Systems, a partner of Verizon, reports ZDNet. Subscriber records from users who called customer service over the past six months were located on an unprotected Amazon S3 storage server controlled by Verizon partner Nice Systems.

The data, which included customer names, phone numbers, home addresses, email addresses, and account PINs, was accessible to anyone who found what ZDNet says was an easy-to-guess web address. That PINs were made available is concerning as a PIN is what's used to verify a customer's identify and make changes to an account.

verizonlogo

The customer records were contained in log files that were generated when Verizon customers in the last six months called customer service. These interactions are recorded, obtained, and analyzed by Nice, which says it can "realize intent, and extract and leverage insights to deliver impact in real time." Verizon uses that data to verify account holders and to improve customer service.

There were six folders for the months between January 2017 and June 2017, which included customer calls from several different US regions. Records included "hundreds of fields of additional data" beyond name, phone number, and PIN, like current account balance, a list of Verizon services, and more. No audio files were found, though the log files were based on calls. Some of the data was masked, but it's not clear what was hidden and what was exposed.

Verizon was informed of the leak in late June and it took more than a week for the information to be secured. Verizon told ZDNet it is investigating how information was improperly stored on the Amazon Web Services server. The company also said the "overwhelming majority" of the data has "no external value" and there's "no indication that the information has been compromised."

"Verizon provided the vendor with certain data to perform this work and authorized the vendor to set up AWS storage as part of this project," said a spokesperson. "Unfortunately, the vendor's employee incorrectly set their AWS storage to allow external access."

Verizon customers who have called in to customer support over the course of the last six months should update their PINs as a precaution.

Update: Verizon released a press statement clarifying that no one accessed the data, so there was no theft or loss of customer information. Verizon also says that only 6 million unique customers were affected and those customers were part of its residential and small business wireline.

Tag: Verizon

Top Rated Comments

keysofanxiety Avatar
102 months ago
Fake news. None of that information was ever protected in the first place. Literally almost each and every thing about all of us is known - to those who want to know it.

We have no privacy in the digital age, 'hacked' or not. It is all available.
Cool. In which case I'm sure you don't mind publically sharing your full name, phone number, email address and home address with us?

Allowing such information to become available to the public by simply following a URL which wasn't secured is far from "fake news". It's very much real news and very much an oversight that could have been easily avoided.
Score: 15 Votes (Like | Disagree)
mudflap Avatar
102 months ago
Can you hack me now?
Score: 13 Votes (Like | Disagree)
keysofanxiety Avatar
102 months ago
Coincidence that your username is keysofanxiety? I only meant to imply that any fear from this leak is the fake news. Everyone could know your address if they wanted to. Snapchat geocodes you. FB geotags you. Your phone tracks everywhere you go. Even this forum has your IP address and could make a discernible guess as to your location. Take pictures? The EXIF data extracted from those would give every location of any picture you've ever taken and posted to Instagram, etc.

And that's not even mentioning all of the rights we toss away whenever we click "I agree" to those lengthy TOS agreements that nobody ever reads. Or to say anything of the Patriot Act and the loss of those civil liberties.

People shouldn't get scared by this Verizon leak - that moment passed about 15 years ago.
All of that is true, yet it doesn't mean making such information readily available is appropriate.

There seems to be these sorts of comments every time there's any type of privacy leak and frankly I'm sick of reading it. "Who cares, if you're part of Google's ecosystem, or use Facebook, people know this stuff anyway. You think you're safe? LOL."

It's a hugely dismissive argument. Yes, people can always find stuff about you if they look hard enough or have the sufficient knowledge. There's no such thing as 'real privacy' on the Internet; nobody is denying that. But that doesn't somehow justify even more people or companies making it easier to do so.
Score: 9 Votes (Like | Disagree)
WRChris Avatar
102 months ago
Coincidence that your username is keysofanxiety? I only meant to imply that any fear from this leak is the fake news. Everyone could know your address if they wanted to. Snapchat geocodes you. FB geotags you. Your phone tracks everywhere you go. Even this forum has your IP address and could make a discernible guess as to your location. Take pictures? The EXIF data extracted from those would give every location of any picture you've ever taken and posted to Instagram, etc.

And that's not even mentioning all of the rights we toss away whenever we click "I agree" to those lengthy TOS agreements that nobody ever reads. Or to say anything of the Patriot Act and the loss of those civil liberties.

People shouldn't get scared by this Verizon leak - that moment passed about 15 years ago.
Nothing about this is fake news. Do you know what that even means?

Also your assumption that everyone who uses Verizon customer service uses those other services you talked about seems ludicrous.

Should we not know that our PINs may be in the hands of someone other than the account holder or Verizon?
Score: 5 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Vasilioskn Avatar
102 months ago
Anyone who says “fake news” is usually full of **** these days.
Score: 4 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Mick-Mac Avatar
102 months ago
"may have had their sensitive data exposed by Nice Systems"
after translating from Marketing to English becomes:
"had their sensitive data exposed by Nice Systems"
Score: 2 Votes (Like | Disagree)

Popular Stories

iPhone 17 Pro Blue Feature Tighter Crop

iPhone 17 Pro Launching Later This Year With These 13 New Features

Wednesday April 23, 2025 8:31 am PDT by
While the iPhone 17 Pro and iPhone 17 Pro Max are not expected to launch until September, there are already plenty of rumors about the devices. Below, we recap key changes rumored for the iPhone 17 Pro models as of April 2025: Aluminum frame: iPhone 17 Pro models are rumored to have an aluminum frame, whereas the iPhone 15 Pro and iPhone 16 Pro models have a titanium frame, and the iPhone ...
iphone 17 dummies sonny dickson

iPhone 17 Air Almost as Thin as Its Buttons, New Images Show

Thursday April 24, 2025 2:14 am PDT by
If you missed the video showing dummy models of Apple's all-new super thin iPhone 17 Air that's expected later this year, Sonny Dickson this morning shared some further images of the device in close alignment with the other dummy models in the iPhone 17 lineup, indicating just how thin it is likely to be in comparison. The iPhone 17 Air is expected to be around 5.5mm thick – with a thicker ...
iPhone 17 Air Pastel Feature

iPhone 17 Air Launching Later This Year With These 16 New Features

Thursday April 24, 2025 8:24 am PDT by
While the so-called "iPhone 17 Air" is not expected to launch until September, there are already plenty of rumors about the ultra-thin device. Overall, the iPhone 17 Air sounds like a mixed bag. While the device is expected to have an impressively thin and light design, rumors indicate it will have some compromises compared to iPhone 17 Pro models, including only a single rear camera, a...
AirPods Pro 3 Mock Feature

AirPods Pro 3 Just Months Away – Here's What We Know

Friday April 18, 2025 5:16 am PDT by
Despite being more than two years old, Apple's AirPods Pro 2 still dominate the premium wireless‑earbud space, thanks to a potent mix of top‑tier audio, class‑leading noise cancellation, and Apple's habit of delivering major new features through software updates. With AirPods Pro 3 widely expected to arrive in 2025, prospective buyers now face a familiar dilemma: snap up the proven...
iphone 17 air dummy unbox therapy

iPhone 17 Air's Extreme Thinness Demoed in New Video

Tuesday April 22, 2025 10:22 am PDT by
Apple plans to release an all-new super thin iPhone this year, debuting it alongside the iPhone 17, iPhone 17 Pro, and iPhone 17 Pro Max. We've seen pictures of dummy models, cases, and renders with the design, but Lewis Hilsenteger of Unbox Therapy today showed off newer dummy models that give us a better idea of just how thin the "iPhone 17 Air" will be. The iPhone 17 Air is expected to be ...
Global Close Your Rings Day Pin

Apple Stores Giving Away a Limited-Edition Pin For Free Today

Thursday April 24, 2025 10:15 am PDT by
Starting today, April 24, Apple Stores around the world are giving away a special pin for free to customers who request one, while supplies last. Photo Credit: Filip Chudzinski The enamel pin's design is inspired by the Global Close Your Rings Day award in the Activity app, which Apple Watch users can receive by closing all three Activity rings today. The limited-edition pin is the physical...
Apple Logo Spotlight Blue

White House Hits Back at Apple's Massive EU Fine

Thursday April 24, 2025 5:57 am PDT by
Apple's $570 million fine from the EU has triggered a sharp rebuke from the White House, which called the fine a form of economic extortion, Reuters reports. The fine was announced on Wednesday by the European Commission, following a formal investigation into Apple's compliance with the bloc's Digital Markets Act (DMA), a landmark piece of legislation aimed at curbing the market dominance of ...
ipad air magic keyboard feature

iPadOS 19 Rumored to Show Mac-Like Menu Bar When Connected to Magic Keyboard

Thursday April 24, 2025 12:09 pm PDT by
When an iPad running iPadOS 19 is connected to a Magic Keyboard, a macOS-like menu bar will appear on the screen, according to the leaker Majin Bu. This change would further blur the lines between the iPad and the Mac. Bloomberg's Mark Gurman previously claimed that iPadOS 19 will be "more like macOS," with unspecified improvements to productivity, multitasking, and app window management,...