Verizon’s fixed a major bug in their text messaging website that let anyone find out a subscriber’s phone number and view their private messages. Apparently the problem has been around for months, and Verizon only just now got around to doing something about it:
The glitch exposed the information like this: An exploiter would send a text message to the cell phone of a Verizon customer through Verizon’s website. The site would then send a confirmation back. The confirmation message included a unique identification code. By altering one or two letters of that code and typing it back into the website, the exploiter could gain the telephone number of yet another customer. An experienced hacker could also use the code to retrieve text messages sent through the network.
Verizon’s solution to the bug was a bit ham-fisted, and now they’ve made it impossible for legitimate users to get confirmation that their text message was sent to the right number.
