How safe are cell phone records? Verizon CEO finds out

Posted by kent on July 23rd, 2009

Think that your cell phone records are private? The Washington Post says they're not. Nope, not one bit. There are information brokers out there who have access to cell phone records and offer them for sale. Unfortunately, no one's sure how the records are being obtained, though there are theories: bribing someone on the inside, impersonating the customer and getting the info directly from the cell phone companies, or using the Internet account access that many customers never activate.

How sensitive are cell phone records? They provide your address, phone number, and the numbers of anyone you've ever called or has called you. According to the article, "Learning who someone talked to on the phone cannot enable the kind of financial fraud made easier when a Social Security or credit card number is purloined." Still, it's not exactly a comfortable thought.

After all, it leaves holes for so-called social engineering hacks. If you've called your credit card company (or your bank, or your doctor) from your cel phone, it could give a potential identity thief a crucial piece of information. Or at least give him or her access to someone that's a step away from other, more personal records.

The cell phone companies say they take the matter very seriously and that they do what they can to stop it. But one man isn't so sure.

Comedian John Hargrave used such records to find the address of Verizon CEO Ivan Seidenberg to take his case to Seidenberg personally. Or at least to his home. And there's a video to prove it:

While the comedians, FTC, and CEOs battle it out, what can you do? If your cell phone carrier does offer online access to your account, it's probably a good idea to make sure you log into it, at least so you can set up a password and prevent anyone else from doing the same. This is only one supposed method for getting access to your phone records, but it can't hurt.

In any case, your cell phone records may already be in the possession of one of these information brokers. Identity theft protection services won't protect your cel phone records, but they can help protect you from resulting identity theft. You can check out our identity theft protection services to see which one might be right for you.