One of the nation’s largest firms engaged in assisting other companies in dealing with data breaches has now confirmed that they themselves have suffered a data breach, this one affecting 1.5 million business clients. In a formal statement, a company spokesman announced “Verizon Enterprise Solutions recently discovered and fixed a security vulnerability on our enterprise client portal. Our investigation to date found an attacker obtained basic contact information on a number of our enterprise customers.”
The company went on to underscore that no proprietary information or other sensitive data was accessed, and the impacted customers are currently being notified. Further, this breach did not expose, or put at risk, any data belonging to consumer clients.
The incident was first reported by the blog “Krebs on Security,” when a prominent member of a cybercrime forum posted a new thread advertising the availability of a database containing information on an estimated 1.5 million Verizon Enterprise customers, for sale to the highest bidder.
While Verizon has security measures in place that are far stronger than most other companies and virtually all small to medium sized businesses, they’re a prime target for the hacking community, given that a significant portion of what they do involves assisting other companies that have been impacted by data breaches. From that perspective, it was only a matter of time before some group or another found a chink in the company’s armor.
This latest breach underscores the importance of implementing robust data security protocols in the face of a growing number of hacking attacks. 2016 is on track to be an even busier year for IT Security Consultants than 2015 was, which itself, was a record breaking year. Even worse, several major data security companies have noted that the attacks are continuing to grow in complexity and sophistication.
If you’re concerned that your own company’s data security isn’t what it should be, get in touch with one of our qualified security consultants. We can evaluate your current system, show you where your weak points are, and help you craft a plan to better protect your digital assets.
