IF Telecom leaks customer data; Google to drop US$1.3 billion on social mapping dev Waze

Australian telco IF Telecom has leaked recorded phone calls containing identifying customer information - names, dates of birth, driver’s licence numbers, and more - onto a publicly available server, accessible via a Google search.

The recorded calls - in the form of MP3 files - were found by a security expert through a Google search, a Fairfax report said. The expert also found Excel spreadsheets containing the same information.

The MP3s and spreadsheets were located in a website directory that was not protected by a password.

The files contain conversations where customers confirm telephone contract agreements with IF Telecom operators.

In the calls, customers provide personal information including their name, date of birth, driver’s licence number and expiry date, business name, their position, and the business’ street address and telephone number.

At the time it was first reported by Fairfax, “about eight” conversations were available for download.

IF Telecom’s operations manager, Nick Holden, said that the telco wasn’t aware of the files being accessible on the public internet.

He said the files were uploaded to an FTP server the company believed was secure.

“We’re going to launch an investigation and we’re going to take the site down immediately,” Holden said.

The files are reportedly no longer available.

This is not the only instance in recent history of an Australian telco leaving customer data lying around on a publicly accessible server. Telstra recently drew criticism for similarly publishing thousands of customers’ personal information.

Google to drop US$1.3 billion on mapping company Waze

Google is preparing to acquire online social mapping company Waze Mobile for around US$1.3 billion, according to multiple anonymous sources.

The deal is near completion and should be announced sometime this week, sources say.

Bloomberg’s sources put the sum at closer to US$1.1 billion.

Neither company would officially comment on the supposed deal.

Waze Mobile develops Waze, a GPS smartphone app that displays user-submitted mapping information like accidents, traffic jams, speed traps and the like. The app has about 47 million users.

The deal is notable as an indication of how valuable the mapping market is to service providers like Google.

“Google needs to maintain supremacy in maps, as they are a key to mobile advertising,” said Gartner analyst Andrew Frank. “They need more ways to shore up their social efforts.”

It’s also amusing: Facebook was reportedly in talks to purchase Waze for a similar sum in May this year, but negotiations apparently fell through when Waze’s management refused to move its predominantly Israel-based staff to the US.

Facebook wanted the company to move its engineering team to Facebook’s US headquarters.

Also, media reports earlier this year suggested Apple was in talks to acquire the company.

Now, Google has picked up where its rivals Facebook and Apple left off.