Verizon-owned Visible acknowledges hack, confirms account manipulations | ZDNet
All-digital wireless carrier Visible has finally addressed issues its users were having with their accounts this week.
The company, which is owned by Verizon, has faced overwhelming criticism from users who took to social media to say their accounts had been hacked and used to buy phones or make other charges.
Multiple customers took to Reddit and other social media sites to complain that they had been locked out of their accounts and had their addresses changed but had not gotten any response from Visible.
The company came forward and confirmed the attack in a Twitter thread on Wednesday afternoon, writing that it was “aware of an issue in which some member accounts were accessed and/or charged without their authorization.”
“As soon as we were made aware of the issue, we initiated a review and deployed tools to mitigate the issue, enabling additional controls to further protect our members. Our investigation indicates that threat actors were able to access username/passwords from outside sources, and exploit that information to login to Visible accounts,” the company claimed.
“If you use your Visible username and password across multiple accounts, including your bank/financial accounts, we recommend updating your username/password with those services. Reminder: Visible will never call and ask for your password, secret questions or account PINs.”
The company urged affected customers to contact them if there were any charges made to their account without their knowledge.
A Reddit user said on Monday, they discovered a $1,175.85 charge to their account coming from Visible. When they investigated further, they discovered that a 128GB iPhone 13 Pro Max had been purchased and sent to an address in New York City, far away from their home in the DC/Virginia area.
“Visible basically offered nothing. I asked them what the hell is this, and they asked me if I had the order number. I said no, since my entire account was hijacked and the emails don’t come to me,” the user wrote.
“I asked if I can be given access to my account again, and they said ‘We’re not sure.’ I should be hearing back within 24-48 hrs.”
In a later message on Reddit, a Visible spokesperson denied that the company had been breached or compromised, claiming that only “a small number of member accounts was changed without their authorization.”
“We don’t believe that any Visible systems have been breached or compromised, nor that this unauthorized access to your Visible account is ongoing,” the company said.
“However, for your protection, we recommend you review your account contact information and change your password and security questions to your Visible account. We also recommend that you review any other accounts that share the same email, login, or password, and make any changes you determine necessary to secure those accounts.”
Visible isn’t the only carrier dealing with cybersecurity issues. In August, hackers breached the systems of T-Mobile, exposing the sensitive information of more than 50 million current, former and prospective customers.
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