Carrier fixed problem after being tipped off by BuzzFeed
In response to input from a news outlet, Verizon this week fixed a security gap that left some 9 million home Internet customers open to a relatively simple, but devastating, cyberattack.
BuzzFeed News broke the story on May 13; the media company then notified Verizon of its findings, which prompted the carrier to fix the issue.
In a nutshell, hackers could use a spoofed IP address to view personal information, reset passwords and take over home accounts, according to reports.
Hacker turned chief information security officer for Cinder Eric Taylor tipped BuzzFeed off to the security loophole.
MarketWatch reports a Verizon rep said the company has “no reason to believe that any customers were impacted by this. If we discover that any were, we will contact them directly.”
BuzzFeed reporter Joseph Bernstein described how he was able to hijack Verizon accounts with the permission of the account holder.
“Despite having no technical background, with the explicit permission of several Verizon account holders I was able to convince Verizon customer service to reset an account password, giving me total control of a Verizon account. It was surprisingly easily done,” he wrote.
“It took me only two downloads, copy and pasting some information from an email, and a few interactions with Verizon customer support. It was just a matter of following step-by-step instructions,” he continued. “In other words, if you can follow a recipe, you could have probably gotten a Verizon password reset.”
Earlier this week Verizon announced an agreement to buy AOL for $50/share, or about $4.4 billion.
Verizon reps said that AOL will boost its LTE wireless video business, it’s over-the-top video offering and create “a growth platform from wireless to IoT for consumers and businesses.”
While AOL is not well-known for wireless video, it has invested in a digital advertising platform. The company also owns valuable content brands, including Huffington Post, Engadget, TechCrunch and Makers.
For Verizon, this is the latest in a string of acquisitions aimed at beefing up its digital media business. Last year the carrier bought Intel Media for Internet video technology, content-delivery network EdgeCast Networks, and live video encoder UpLynk.
