eBay Users Advised to Change Passwords; PayPal's Status Still Uncertain

All eBay users are being asked to change their passwords after the company suffered a data breach that compromised a sensitive information database, according to a company announcement.

No evidence has yet been uncovered that credentials of PayPal, which is owned by eBay, were compromised in this breach as well.

Photo credit: eBay Blog

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

The compromised database contained sensitive non-financial information and eBay encrypted passwords.

In a blog post, eBay highlighted the lack of evidence of unauthorized access to “financial or credit card information, which is stored separately in encrypted formats.”

It appears the cyber-attackers gained a small number of staff log-in credentials and accessed the company`s corporate network.

eBay found out two weeks ago that the employee log-in credentials were compromised, leading them to the compromised database.

The database seems to have been compromised between late February and late March, and it contained eBay customer details such as email addresses, physical addresses, dates of birth, phone numbers, and, most importantly, names and encrypted passwords.

It remains to be seen how well the passwords are encrypted and what encryption protocol eBay uses.

The investigation is ongoing as the company is working with security experts and law enforcement.

Users will be notified within the next 24 hours with more details regarding the incident. Also, users who have the same password on their eBay and PayPal accounts should change both.