Online auction site eBay has been the victim of a huge cyber attack that has affected 128 million users. Hackers managed to gain access to the names, passwords, e-mail address, date of birth and street addresses of users.
This attack took place in late February and early March. Users need to change their passwords ASAP and keep a sharp eye on bank statements and other suspicious activity that could indicate users have been the victim of identity theft.
The company says PayPal accounts were not affected by this attack.
~ Cynthia
It was reported on another site that EBay sent customers emails advising them to change their password. However, I did not get any such warning via email. My thinking is that EBay did their own research on who of their customers were affected and may have notified them. Also, EBay does not make it easy to email them with questions on an issue like this, making it very difficult to communicate with them other than by phone.
They stated that PayPal was not affected by this. Yet I complained to PayPal recently because part of their new member registration process requests bank account user id and password access to verify applicants. In this day and age why are they so confident that their security is safely above any one else? There should be a law forbidding third parties from asking for passwords.
Thanks so much. You were the first to get me this information about eBay. I’ve been with you folks since the late 90’s I believe. Keep up the good work.
I registered with ebay years ago – 3 or 4- but only viewed specific items and inquired about only one item with the seller. I never did any business. I don’t recall any of my registration info all this time later. What shoul I do if anything?
Thanks for the hacker info. Your communication with your members is much appreciated, including your tech tips. Keep up the bargains and good info!
I share information you send with many others as World Start is increasingly a valuable resource.
Howard said he hadn’t received notification as of 5/22, I just got notified. ‘ebaY’ must be real popular if it takes 6 days plus to notify their users.