Verizon's anti-hacker units "hacked"

Verizon unit aids corporations when they've been the victims of a hack.

But now, they themselves have been a victim of security compromise! Records of more than 1.5 million customers of the computer security wing of Verizon were on sale!

According to a reputed computer security writer, the entire database was up for $100,000 on a closely-guarded deep-web cyber-security forum with increments. Buyers also were offered the option to purchase information about security vulnerabilities in Verizon's Web site.

In an emailed statement, the company said, "Verizon Enterprise Solutions recently discovered and fixed a security vulnerability on our enterprise client portal. Our investigation to date found an attacker obtained basic contact information on a number of our enterprise customers." They also mentioned that no data about consumer customers were involved.

The irony is that Verizon Enterprise each year writes one of the most widely-read annual data breach investigation reports on computer security community. The attack clearly enlightens that even those that report security vulnerabilities are susceptible to exploits. The compromise of 1.5 million customers' contact details would have resulted in a huge payday for hackers.

Its well known that a lot of enterprise solution make use of Verizon's enterprise solutions and if that doesn't open-up about who purchased the data, might have plans to make use of that to induce a phishing attack since it does reveal a lot of information about companies with a lot of finances at stake.

Even though stealing information doesn't result in an immediate payoff or a revelation in credit card numbers, it can definitely affect long term if taken advantage of, correctly. While the breach only included basic contact information about Verizon Enterprise Solutions customers, it's of concern because of whose those customers were.