eBay cyberattack: users warned to change passwords
Online auction and shopping giant eBay advises customers to change their passwords after hackers got into a database holding data including names and addresses. So how worried should we be?
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The company said that working with law enforcement and leading security experts, it was “aggressively investigating the matter” and applying the best forensic tools and practices to protect customers.
PayPal caution
It said that there was no evidence of unathorised access to personal or financial information for PayPal users. PayPal data is encrypted and stored separately on a secure network. However the company advised people to change their PayPal password too if it was the same as their eBay password.
From Thursday the company will begin asking users via emails and on its website to change their passwords.
You have to be careful with your passwords and your information: it’s down to you really Kate Bevan, technology journalist
Customers who had only used eBay as a guest user would not have a password on the affected database, but were recommended to stay vigilant to any fraudulent activity such as potential phishing emails, texts, phone calls or fake websites.
Trust no-one
Technology journalist Kate Bevan underlined the importance of not using the same password twice, saying: “if you’ve used the same email address and password combination on eBay as in other places, potentially a hacker’s got access to all of that other stuff.”
But she warned that in the end users shouldn’t trust any company to keep their details safe, because in the end every company could have a security breach, be it big or small: “you have to be your backstop – you have to be careful with your passwords and your information: it’s down to you really.
