eBay hacked but PayPal OK, change your passwords now

Online retailer and auction house eBay has been compromised. Attackers gained access to the company’s database containing encrypted passwords and other non-financial data. While your credit card numbers and PayPal account are safe, your name, email, and address have been accessed.

PayPal released a separate statement this morning stating it has found no evidence of a breach on its own servers.

“Extensive forensic research has shown no evidence of unauthorized access or compromise to personal or financial information for PayPal customers. PayPal customer and financial data is encrypted and stored separately, and PayPal never shares financial information with merchants, including eBay.”

The attackers gained access to eBay’s servers by targeting its employees. After taking over an employee’s account, the attackers then accessed customer data.

eBay says the breach happened between late February and early March, but didn’t detect it until two weeks ago. Although the hackers have had your information for a few months, eBay has not detected any “increased fraudulent account activity.”

The hackers may have your information but they haven’t tried using it on eBay yet. If you use your eBay password for any other accounts, it’s a good idea to change those passwords as well.

As always, we recommend using a password manager to generate and manage your passwords. Always use a different password for every site.

eBay will begin notifying its users of the breach today, urging them to change their passwords. You can change your password now by navigating to your eBay account settings and “Personal Information” section.

Source: Business Wire

Via: BBC

Follow Lewis on Twitter @lewisleong

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