eBay urges users to change passwords after massive data breach
In what could be one of the biggest data breaches in the recent times, hackers attacked the e-commerce giant eBay and gained access to a database containing a list of encrypted passwords.
E-commerce giant eBay has urged its users to change their passwords after the website suffered a massive cyberattack that may have compromised the company database, containing users’ e-mail ids, encrypted passwords, physical addresses and phone numbers.
eBay, however, points out that there’s no evidence that shows theft of any financial or credit card details or any suspicious activity for its over 140 million active users. The company adds they have begun investigations. According to an eBay spokesperson, a large number of accounts may have been compromised.
Cyberattackers manage to gain access to a small number of employee log-in credentials that enabled them to access eBay’s corporate network. The database was compromised sometime between late February and early March, but was detected just weeks ago. eBay also highlights there’s no evidence about PayPal information being hacked as that data is stored separately.
After the attack, the company has started notifying its users via e-mail, site communications and other marketing channels to change their log in credentials. eBay has also advised users having same password on others sites to change those passwords as well.
Despite global efforts to make Internet more secure, incidents of hacking have significantly increased over the years. Recently, a new security bug called ‘Heartbleed‘ had put users’ passwords at many popular websites at risk. The latest eBay incident clearly shows the need for more serious efforts to improve Internet security and privacy.
Source: Businesswire, ET