Mobile carriers fined $10M for making private user info accessible via Google search

Posted on 27 October 2014. The FCC intends to fine TerraCom, Inc. and YourTel America, Inc. $10 million for several violations of laws protecting the privacy of phone customers’ personal information.

According to an investigation by the Enforcement Bureau, TerraCom and YourTel apparently stored Social Security numbers, names, addresses, driver’s licenses, and other sensitive information belonging to their customers in unencrypted form on unprotected Internet servers that anyone in the world could access.

The information was gathered to demonstrate eligibility for the Lifeline program, which is a Universal Service Fund program that provides discounted phone services for low-income consumers. The companies allegedly breached the personal data of up to 305,000 consumers through their lax data security practices and exposed those consumers to identity theft and fraud. Full Article