eBay Inc is asking all 145 million users to change their passwords due to a cyber attack.
The company said it has seen no evidence of increased fraudulent account activity or any unauthorized access to financial or credit-card information, which eBay said is stored on different encrypted formats.
The attack, which compromised a small number of employee log-in credentials, accessed a database that included customer names, passwords, email addresses, physical addresses, phone numbers and dates of birth.
“At this point we are not disclosing further information,” eBay said in a statement. The company said it is cooperating with authorities and could not speculate on who is responsible for the cyber attack.
According to the statement, the cyber attack occurred between late February and early March, but was first realized two weeks ago.
In an email to Advisen, eBay did not address a question of whether authorities or investigators requested the company delay public notification of the breach. eBay said it will notify all users via email, on its website, and using other channels.
eBay also said it has no evidence of any access of personal or financial information of PayPal users but if eBay users maintain the same passwords for multiple eBay sites (PayPal, StubHub, Tradera, etc.) it is suggested they change all passwords.
Chad Hemenway is Managing Editor of Advisen News. He has more than 15 years of journalist experience at a variety of online, daily, and weekly publications. He has covered P&C insurance news since 2007, and he has experience writing about all P&C lines as well as regulation and litigation. Chad won a Jesse H. Neal Award for Best Single Article in 2014 for his coverage of the insurance implications of traumatic brain injuries and Best News Coverage in 2013 for coverage of Superstorm Sandy. Contact Chad at 212.897.4824 or [email protected].
