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Verizon employees hacked Obama's cell phone account
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Verizon Wireless has said that some employees had accessed and viewed President-elect Barack Obama's personal cell phone account without authorization.
The carrier said all employees who accessed the account, either with or without authorization, which had been inactive for months, had been put on immediate leave with pay. "We apologize to President-elect Obama and will work to keep the trust our customers place in us every day," Verizon CEO Lowell McAdam said in a statement. The phone was a simple flip-phone and not a smartphone or a BlackBerry used for email or data services.
Verizon said it was looking into the kinds of access that employees had, and that those who accessed the account for legitimate business purposes will be placed back in their positions and those who accessed the account improperly will face disciplinary action. Verizon spokesman Jeffrey Nelson would not comment beyond the official statement.
The news comes as some security experts question whether Obama will need to stop using his BlackBerry as he assumes the presidency, mostly because of concerns over security breaches such as this.
For more:
- see this article
- see this Verizon press release
- see this article on Obama and his BlackBerry
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Comments
Posted by JC | November 21, 2008 - 8:30pm
Verizon Wireless back from December to about April or May there was a hacker that was hacking in to my personal account and was trying to see what was I doing on the internet and why was I always on it. I was advised from them that it was my problem, and sorry but there's nothing that they can do about it. I did track the person doing it, I sent then a threating e mail stating if I were to catch them ever again hacking in to my account, I will pursue charges against them and Verizon Wireless. I advised them I know who they are and where they were located. I traced the IP address and to this day Verizon Wireless can just say is sorry. It did not surprise me a bit when I heard that Obama had his account hacked into. This person was located in Maryland. They said I would have to call police and press charges if I wanted anything done against this person. When my contract is done with I will cancel my account with them. This is an FYI to all customers out there about Verizon Wireless and what there no good employees are up to.
Posted by Anonymous | January 3, 2010 - 3:32pm
You are a complete idiot. You couldn't trace a masked turtle, not a phone hacker.
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