One of the United States’ largest Verizon Authorized Retailers, Russell Cellular, may have been compromised, potentially exposing the records of more than 6.3 million customers. A database that is allegedly associated with Russell Cellular has been published on a popular hacker forum for $1,200, reportedly containing 61GB of data. The cybercriminal uploaded file samples to prove their possession of the data, and according to the research team at Cybernews, the data appears to be structured and legitimate in appearance. 

The allegedly compromised data includes: 

• Names
• Phone numbers
• Email addresses 
• Contract details
• Account numbers
• Invoice and tracking numbers
• Device models/selected tariff plans
• Device identifiers (such as ESN and IMEI/SN)
• Employee information (such as usernames, passwords and access roles)

In the case of leaked passwords, some are displayed in plaintext while others are hashed. This could indicate that internal system access is at risk. 

At this time, Russell Cellular has not confirmed the authenticity of the data. However, Verizon reached out to Cybernews, explaining it is aware of the potential threat to customer data and is actively investigating it. 

“Our teams are actively investigating the matter and working with the retailer to understand the extent of the issue and its impact,” the spokesperson stated. 

Information will be shared as the investigation progresses.