Verizon , the telecommunications giant, has millions of new home Internet connections after buying AOL for $4.4 billion. But a vulnerability in its Internet services has put millions of customers at risk
According to BuzzFeed News, the security hole in the company's services allows anyone to see any customer with an internet connection as long as they visit the website with a spoofed IP address, through which anyone can also reset passwords and gain full control of the accounts!
To exploit the above vulnerability, all that is needed is a Firefox that uses IP addresses in email headers and can be easily silenced by a conscious hacker.
The company's customer support website uses computer IPs to identify users, recognizes the IP address it's searching for, and automatically displays information like your location, name, phone number, and email address. And that's enough for someone to take control of an account with the company in question.
Joseph Bernstein , a journalist at BuzzFeed News, wrote in a blog post that it took him just two downloads, some copying and pasting of information from an email, and some contact with the company's customer support . " You just had to follow the instructions exactly, step by step. In other words, if you follow the recipe, you'll most likely be able to gain control of the company's account."
The security hole was fixed after the report to BuzzFeed News.
