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Computer Glitch Exposes Verizon Wireless Account Data

August 12, 2005
A programming error in Verizon Wireless' online billing system may have exposed millions of consumer records, the company said. The glitch has now been fixed and Verizon said it does not know of any subscriber accounts that were compromised.

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The flaw supposedly affected only customers who had activated the "My Account" feature on the Verizon Wireless Web site. Because of the error, customers looking up information on their own accounts could have seen some information about other customers' accounts.

The flaw allowed customers who punched in another user's phone number to see how many airtime minutes that person had used, as well as the number of free minutes they had remaining for the month, a company spokesman said.

The company insisted that no sensitive customer information had been at risk. But Jonathan Zdiarski, the software developer who notified the phone company of the problem said that the programming flaw exposed account balances and the date of the most recent payment.

Zdiarski said the flaw could have been used to "clone" a wireless user's account. When an account is cloned, the legitimate user's minutes can be used by others and incoming calls are intercepted or lost.

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