The hacker accessed a database containing the full names, email addresses, corporate identification numbers, and phone numbers of hundreds of Verizon employees. It is reported by Vice.
It is not yet clear whether all the data is accurate and up-to-date. Motherboard (Vice’s tech department) figured out that at least some of the data was legitimate by calling the phone numbers in the database. Four people verified their full names and email addresses and said they worked for Verizon. Some of the respondents confirmed the data and stated that they used to work in the company. At the same time, about a dozen numbers left voice messages with names from the database, which suggests that they are also accurate.
Last week, a hacker contacted Motherboard and claimed that the data was obtained through social engineering. A cybercriminal convinced a Verizon employee to give him remote access to his corporate computer by posing as a help desk employee. The hacker was then able to access Verizon’s internal tool and obtain employee information.
The attacker demanded $250,000 from Verizon, threatening otherwise to make the stolen data public.
A Verizon spokesperson confirmed that the hacker contacted the company.
“We were recently contacted by a scammer who threatened to reveal employee information in exchange for payment from Verizon. We do not believe that the scammer has any sensitive information and therefore we do not plan to interact with this person, ”said a Verizon representative.