Verizon Enterprise has been hacked, and a database containing contact information for 1.5 million business customers could be up for sale, according to KrebsOnSecurity.
The seller priced the entire package at $100,000, but also offered to sell it off in chunks of 100,000 records for $10,000 apiece, the security website reported. Buyers also were offered the option to purchase information about security vulnerabilities in Verizon’s Web site, the site added.
The breach involved Verizon's enterprise client portal, and the vulnerability has since been fixed. Verizon says the hackers obtained only basic contact information, and not the more prized customer proprietary network information (CPNI) that the service provider guards so closely.
Generally speaking, large U.S. telecom companies have strong track records for IT security and cyber security. High-profile breaches such as this one are rare. Still, lower-profile telecom companies have suffered breaches and paid fines. Victims have included TerraCom and YourTel America, NetworkWorld notes.
Mission-critical infrastructure providers -- across telecom, transportation, energy and financial services -- have been working more closely with the U.S. government in recent months. Much of the work increasingly involves shared information to bolster overall infrastructure defenses.
But as 2112 Group's Larry Walsh pointed out this week at CompTIA AMM 2016, businesses of all sizes must focus more on the four P's of security: People, Process, Policy and Product.
