Verizon employee sold customer data for thousands of dollars

Don’t look now, but a rogue Verizon employee was caught lifting customer data red handed. A man named Daniel Eugene Traeger is being charged in federal court for using his access to Verizon’s server to retrieve both calling details and location data.

Traeger is admitting to the charge in a plea deal that will give him a maximum of 5 years in prison. Over a 5 year period, he stole hundreds of records and sold them to a private investigator, with the amount earned transcending the range of about $10,000. It’s not yet known why the private investigator requested the pieces of info he did, nor are the authorities releasing the identity of the investigator.

It doesn’t sound as if the breach was extensive, as the employee was only lifting around 10 to 15 records per month, and hopefully Verizon will be in contact with the affected customer for further protection. For a measly $10,000 over 5 years, we’re pretty sure it won’t be worth the amount of jail time and up to $250,000 in fines he’ll be seeing because of it.

[via ArsTechnica]