Hackers of Obama's cell phone account could not access his voicemails, emails

Washington, November 22 : Verizon Wireless, the second largest wireless telecommunications network in the US, has said that its employees who accessed Barack Obama's personal cellular phone account without authorisation have neither heard the U.S. President-elect's voice mails nor viewed his e-mails.

A spokesman on the transition team said that the company had found earlier this week that several employees had breached the personal cellphone account of the president-elect.

He revealed that all such employees were immediately put on leave with pay, including those with authorisation.

According to the Washington Post, Verizon has vowed to take "appropriate disciplinary action" against all those employees who improperly breached the account.

However, people with "legitimate business needs" for accessing Obama's account would be allowed to return to their positions, the company added in a statement.

Transition spokesman Tommy Vietor revealed that the cellphone account had been inactive for several months.

Verizon has revealed that the phone used for the account was a flip phone, primarily used for voice services, as opposed to a smartphone device such as the BlackBerry.

The incident has raised concerns whether Obama, an avid user of technology, should use a wireless device for sending and receiving e-mail and other data.

ANI