Hacker steals database of Verizon employees, tries to ransom it for $250K

SAN FRANCISCO: Database that includes the full name, email address, corporate ID numbers, and phone numbers of several Verizon employees was compromised with the hacker holding it for a $250,000 ransom, a media report says.

According to Motherboard, the hacker said they reached out to Verizon and shared the email that he sent to the company.

"Please feel free to respond with an offer not to leak you're (sic) entire employee database," the hacker wrote in the email.

A Verizon spokesperson reportedly confirmed to the website that the hacker has been in contact with the company.

"A fraudster recently contacted us threatening to release readily available employee directory information in exchange for payment from Verizon," the spokesperson told Motherboard in an email.

"We do not believe the fraudster has any sensitive information and we do not plan to engage with the individual further," the spokesperson added.

Meanwhile, the report mentioned that the hacker contacted Motherboard last week to share the information.

The anonymous hacker said they obtained the data by convincing a Verizon employee to give them remote access to their corporate computer.

While the database does not include information such as Social Security Numbers, passwords, or credit card numbers, the stolen information is still potentially dangerous, the report said.

Are you in Chennai? Then click here to get our newspaper at your doorstep!