The cyber world is always evolving and just when you thought you were safe from the Heartbleed Bug, news broke this morning about a massive
security breach with eBay. In a BusinessWire release, the online auction giant stated, "Cyberattackers compromised a small number
of employee log-in credentials, allowing unauthorized access to eBay's corporate network, the company said. Working with law enforcement and leading security experts, the company is aggressively investigating the matter and applying the best forensics tools
and practices to protect customers."
The report indicated that the breach occurred sometime in late February to early March, but was only discovered about two weeks ago. Hackers were able to obtain information such as eBay customers' names, passwords, email addresses, home addresses, phone
numbers and date of birth. The company stated they have no evidence to compromises of financial information for PayPal users since that information is stored in a different database.
All eBay users will be receiving emails with instructions to change their eBay passwords starting today. Because of the sensitive information that was compromised (i.e. passwords, names, email addresses, phone numbers, etc.), BCA offers the following tips:
- First and foremost, change your password immediately. It is recommended that you change your password on other sites as well if you use the same credentials since hackers may try using that information to gain control of those accounts.
- Don't reply directly to emails or suspicious text messages. Although eBay will be notifying you of the breach and asking you to change your password, the notification won't require a response back. Hackers may try to solicit you and obtain
your personal information through this phishing attack.
- Check the source of any links to make sure they're legitimate. If clicking on a link is required, make sure the website it goes to is actually from ebay and not a copycat site. This type of hack will usually take you to websites infected
with malware or require you to supply personal information such as credit card numbers, Social Security numbers and other sensitive information.
- If you receive a phone call from eBay, we urge caution. With the scale of this breach and the number of people who use eBay, it's hard to believe eBay would be calling you. Be wary if the person on the other line starts asking for personal
information from you.
- Check your credit reports every few months. You can get them for free. To get your report, visit AnnualCreditReport.com or call 1-877-322-8228.
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with a business.