More than 63,000 Verizon employees - half the workforce of the telecommunications giant - have had their information impacted by an insider data breach.
In a Data Breach Notification listed with the Office of the Maine Attorney General, Verizon stated that on or around September 21, 2023, a company employee obtained an unauthorised file containing employee personal information. It's not known if the incident was accidental or not, although the company stated that such an action is "in violation of company policy."
It took nearly three months (December 12, 2023) before the breach was discovered and a review by the company revealed that the employee information included full name, street address, Social Security number or other national identifier, gender, and date of birth. A letter to those affected stated, "... we have no evidence that this information has been misused or shared outside of Verizon as a result of this issue."
Verizon has arranged for those impacted by the breach to have free identity protection and credit monitoring services for two years, and encourages them to monitor their credit reports and review account statements.
Verizon is one of the world’s leading telecommunications companies, with 117,000 employees in 150+ countries and global revenues of $134 billion (2023).
