Prison phone company leaked 600K users’ data and didn’t notify them, FTC says

Enlarge / A telephone in a prison. (credit: Getty Images | Image Source)

Prison phone company Global Tel*Link leaked the personal information of nearly 650,000 users and failed to notify most of the users that their personal data was exposed, the Federal Trade Commission said today. The company agreed to a settlement that requires it to change its security practices and offer free credit monitoring and identity protection to affected users, but the settlement doesn't include a fine.

"Global Tel*Link and two of its subsidiaries failed to implement adequate security safeguards to protect personal information they collect from users of its services, which enabled bad actors to gain access to unencrypted personal information stored in the cloud and used for testing," the FTC said.

Global Tel*Link has long been controversial because of the prices it charges for inmate-calling services. The company rebranded itself as ViaPath Technologies last year. The subsidiaries targeted in the FTC complaint are Telmate and TouchPay Holdings.