Think your cell phone records are private? The Washington Post says they are not. Not at all. There are information brokers out there who have access to cell phone records and offer them for sale. Unfortunately, it does not know how the records are obtained, but there are theories :. Bribe someone inside posing as the customer and get the information directly from the cell phone companies, or by using the Internet access account that many customers do not activate
How sensitive are cell phone records? They provide your address, phone number, and number of everyone you've ever known or called. According to the article, "Learning that someone has spoken on the phone can not afford the kind of financial fraud made easier when a Social Security number or credit card is hid." Yet it is not just a thought comfortable.
After all, it leaves holes for so-called social engineering hacks. If you called your credit card company (or your bank or your doctor) from your cel phone, it could give a potential identity thief of crucial information. Or at least it access to someone who is not far from the other, more personal records give.
cell phone companies say they are taking the issue very seriously and they are doing what they can to stop it. But a man is not so sure.
Comedian John Hargrave used these documents to find the address of Verizon CEO Ivan Seidenberg of taking his case to Seidenberg personally. Or at least at home. And there's a video to prove it:
While comedians, FTC and CEO clash, What can you do? If your cell phone carrier offers online access to your account, it's probably a good idea to make sure you are connecting to, at least for you to set up a password and prevent anyone from the same thing. This is only a supposed method to get access to your phone records, but it can not hurt.
In all cases, your cell phone records may already be in possession of one of these information brokers. protection services against identity theft will not protect your cel phone records, but they can help to protect you against the resulting identity theft. You can view our identity theft protection services to see which one might be right for you.