November 21st, 2008
Verizon snoops peek at Obama's cell phone records
Nosy Verizon employees improperly accessed and peeked at Barack Obama’s personal cell phone records, the company said in a statement acknowledging the privacy breach.
In the statement, Verizon Wireless chief executive Lowell McAdam apologized to the President-elect and vowed that the errant employees will be disciplined. The Associated Press reports no voicemails or e-mails were accessed in the breach.
From Verizon’s statement:
All employees who have accessed the account — whether authorized or not — have been put on immediate leave, with pay. Employees with legitimate business needs for access will be returned to their positions, while employees who have accessed the account improperly and without legitimate business justification will face appropriate disciplinary action.
[ SEE: Sarah Palin’s Yahoo account hijacked, e-mails posted online ]
Obama’s addiction to a BlackBerry on the campaign trail is well know but, as the New York Times reports, the President-elect may have to give up the device when he takes office next January.
Over the course of the election season, several people close to the political scene suffered privacy or security breaches. They include Sarah Palin, Bill O’Reilly, “Joe the Plumber,” and both Obama and McCain campaigns.
More from Larry Dignan. Also see Techmeme discussion.
Ryan Naraine is a journalist and security evangelist at Kaspersky Lab. He manages Threatpost.com, a security news portal. Here is Ryan's full profile and disclosure of his industry affiliations.
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