Verizon Wireless, the #2 mobile phone company in North America, has issued a press release (which is short and to the point, and with good reason) which announces that a personal cell phone account of Barack Obama, USA’s soon-to-be new President, has been accessed and looked at by several Verizon employees, without consent. Doesn’t speak much for Verizon’s security, does it? It’s sort of a surprise that Verizon even bothered to announce a major security loophole like this.
The account is for a simple flip phone (not a smartphone, thankfully) and, it has been inactive for more than a month. Luckily for those people’s jobs. Maybe.
Lowell McAdam, CEO of the company, says that all the employees who committed the infraction on Obama’s account were “put on leave” (usually short for “good luck getting your job back”). However, those of them who prove they had legitimate reasons to take a peek at the account will be reinstated. More than likely, those people are history.
Hopefully, Verizon will shore up their security as a result of this incident. The public apology (which is what this amounts to) is a good thing, but this sets a potentially dangerous precident for all Verizon customers if not addressed.
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