Announcements of a data breach at a company or governmental agency have become so common that they no longer seem particularly startling. However the recent announcement by Verizon Enterprise Solutions that it had become a victim of a massive data breach is particularly noteworthy because Verizon Enterprise Solutions is the unit of Verizon that assists other companies when they become victims of data breaches.
OOPS!
In fact, one of the things that Verizon Enterprise Solutions does each year is issue an annual data breach investigations report. Next year, it appears that the report will be including information about its own data breach. According to Verizon the information stolen by the hackers was limited to basic contact information for many of its customers. Verizon is in the process of contacting affected customers. Meanwhile the stolen information is already being sold on the Dark Web, a part of the Internet where criminals buy and sell such information.