Zug.com Plays Great Prank on CEO of Verizon to Show Security Flaws

Verizon Wireless wants you to think that your personal data is protected, that it's safe, and is not available for sale on a website. Things like your cell phone number, address, etc. are not for sale on the Internet, unless they are.

Which they totally are.

According to a great post on Zug.com (which cited a Washington Post article), this is a problem with the cell phone carriers who not only have poor security measures, some of their employees may be selling your information.

So somebody at Zug.com signed up for a "free cell phone records" to get the unlisted address for Ivan Seidenberg, CEO of Verizon. Then he plugged the address into his GPS, and drove out to Seidenberg's neighborhood just outside New York City.

"Ivan Seidenberg!" I shouted into the bullhorn, and it was just insanely loud. The sound echoed off the brick facade of Ivan's estate, splashing onto all the McMansions around him.

"I'm here on behalf of Verizon customers. PLEASE DO A BETTER JOB PROTECTING YOUR CUSTOMERS' CELL PHONE RECORDS!" I bellowed. "Everyone has the right to privacy, including you Ivan! When we don't have privacy, then freaks with bullhorns start showing up on our front lawn."

"Keep our phone numbers unlisted!" I shouted. "Keep our cell phone records private! Keep us safe in your loving arms, Ivan!"

"Stroke our hair!" I added.

"Can you hear me, Ivan? This is a serious issue!" I hollered.

"Can you hear me now?" I asked, a little louder.


Brilliant.

Apparently nothing happened. Either Seidenberg didn't hear him, was hiding under the bed in the guest room, or just wasn't home. But the guys at Zug.com did a cool thing to show that the cell phone companies aren't as good at keeping things private as they like to say they do. If they can find the unlisted phone number and address of the one guy whose information should be kept private, you can find anybody's.


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