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Hacker allegedly leaks Verizon FiOS customer data, Big Red points the finger at marketing firm

Verizon customers saw a flash of excitement this weekend when an alleged hacker claimed to have pilfered personal data for some three million of its wireless customers. Twitter user TibitXimer shared 300,000 names from the file, claiming to have collected them as early as July 12th. According to Verizon, the would-be hacker's claims are bunk -- the leaked data has been available for months, and it's populated by Verizon FiOS customers. More importantly, Verizon says that its servers weren't hacked at all.

"There was no hack, and no access gained," it said in a statement to The Next Web "A third party marketing firm made a mistake and information was copied." Verizon says the leak was reported to authorities months ago, and insists that recent claims are inaccurate and exaggerated. Sure enough, security researcher Adam Caudill recalls seeing the file back in August, guessing this is probably a file leaked from a telemarketing agency. Either way TibitXimer's account has vanished from the social network, demonstrating, if nothing else, that Twitter is serious about its Trust & Safety policies.