The hacking took place sometimes late February and early March and the intruders managed to access eBay employee log-ins, which, in turn, gave them access to people’s data.
This means that as we speak, the hackers have your names, email addresses, physical addresses, phone numbers, and dates of birth. Rest assured, eBay repeatedly insisted that the company kept all your financial data separately from your personal data and you are safe from this point of view:
After conducting extensive tests on its networks, the company said it has no evidence of the compromise resulting in unauthorized activity for eBay users, and no evidence of any unauthorized access to financial or credit card information, which is stored separately in encrypted formats. However, changing passwords is a best practice and will help enhance security for eBay users.
But in a world where hackers can pass several levels of encrypted data and passwords, imagine what they can do with your e-mail addresses.
We don’t want to unleash the paranoia upon our readers, but in cases like this, just as it happened with the Heartbleed problem, it is always better to be safe than sorry. According to some official statements that are published in heavy rotation by all major tech journals and blogs,
The company (eBay) said it has seen no indication of increased fraudulent account activity on eBay. The company also said it has no evidence of unauthorized access or compromises to personal or financial information for PayPal users. PayPal data is stored separately on a secure network, and all PayPal financial information is encrypted.
However, the most recent news coming yesterday tell us that eBay announced that the number of users potentially affected by the massive data theft could be as many as 145 million.
If you are a regular eBay user and you if used the platform in the last months, you should probably change your password as soon as possible. Specialists recommend you to also change passwords for all other accounts and websites you regularly use in case these are the same with your eBay password, just to be safe from a potential hackers’ attack in the future.
While there is no information related to any suspect transactions made through the auction and selling platform, eBay users are urged to change passwords immediately just to be sure. You should also keep an eye to other suspicious Internet activities related to your name or email address.