Verizon Wireless said that some of its employees gained unauthorized access to Barack Obama’s cell phone account. The employees viewed the personal cell phone account which in the meanwhile has been deactivated in accordance with the Presidential Records Act requirements.

The telecommunications-operating company also mentioned that Obama’s voice-mail messages and e-mails were not breached.

"We were notified yesterday that employees had accessed the records of an old cell phone no longer in use," the Obama aide said. "No voice or e-mails were listened to or read."

Verizon officials made it clear that its employees did not gain access to the President-Elect’s BlackBerry cell phone or some other device that features e-mail service or other data. The account that was breached was that of a simple voice phone.

Verizon Wireless President and CEO Lowell McAdam apologized to Barack Obama for the incident. He said in the statement that "a number of Verizon Wireless employees have without authorization, accessed and viewed President-elect Barack Obama's personal cell phone account."

The account breached had been inactive for several months. The employees behind the breach were put on immediate leave with pay. Verizon said it will soon impose “appropriate disciplinary action against them.”

The employees were probably able to see the numbers Obama called and the duration of each conversation. When asked about the type of data the employees gained access to, the company’s spokesman Jeffrey Nelson declined comment.