All news with #verizon tag

FCC Reversal Removes Telecom Cybersecurity Mandates

⚠ The FCC has reversed its January 2025 Declaratory Ruling that required US telecom providers to adopt and annually certify stricter cybersecurity controls under CALEA. The agency said the earlier order was misconstrued and unlawful, citing recent engagements with carriers and targeted actions instead of prescriptive mandates. Critics, including FCC Commissioner Anna Gomez and security experts, warn the rollback could leave critical infrastructure more exposed after the Salt Typhoon attacks.

FCC Reverses Telco Cybersecurity Mandate After Salt Typhoon

🔒 The FCC has rescinded a January 2025 declaratory ruling under CALEA that would have required telecom carriers to adopt formal cybersecurity risk-management plans, submit annual certifications, and treat network cybersecurity as a legal obligation after the Salt Typhoon intrusions. The agency, now led by new commissioners, also withdrew the accompanying NPRM, calling the prior approach inflexible and legally flawed. Carriers say they have strengthened defenses and agreed to continued coordination, while critics warn that relying on voluntary measures risks leaving national communications infrastructure exposed.

Misconfigured NICE Systems S3 Exposed Verizon Customer Data

🔒 A misconfigured Amazon S3 repository administered by NICE Systems exposed names, addresses, account details and PINs tied to Verizon customers; UpGuard estimated up to 14 million affected while Verizon disputed a 6 million figure. The publicly accessible bucket contained daily voice-log files and large text archives with unmasked fields such as PIN and CustCode, alongside call analytics metadata. UpGuard notified Verizon in June 2017 and remediation followed, but the incident underscores the severity of third-party cloud misconfigurations and vendor-managed data risk.

Verizon Cloud Leak: NICE Systems Exposed Customer Data

🔓 UpGuard discovered an Amazon S3 repository owned by NICE Systems that left call-support logs for Verizon publicly accessible. The exposed files contained names, addresses, phone numbers, account details and many unmasked account PINs tied to phone numbers, creating a significant risk of account takeover. UpGuard notified Verizon and the bucket was secured; the incident highlights third-party cloud misconfiguration risk and the need for stronger vendor controls.