EBay To Ask Users To Change Passwords After Cyberattack

(RTTNews) - E-commerce giant eBay, Inc. (EBAY) announced Wednesday that it will ask users beginning today to change their passwords because of a cyberattack that compromised a database containing encrypted passwords and other non-financial data.

The company said it will notify users via email, site communications and other marketing channels to change their password.

"Information security and customer data protection are of paramount importance to eBay Inc., and eBay regrets any inconvenience or concern that this password reset may cause our customers. We know our customers trust us with their information, and we take seriously our commitment to maintaining a safe, secure and trusted global marketplace," the company said in a statement.

However, the company added that extensive tests revealed that there is no evidence of any unauthorized access to financial or credit card information and their online payments operation PayPal as they are stored separately in encrypted formats.

It has also not seen any evidence of the cyberattack resulting in unauthorized activity for eBay users or increased fraudulent account activity.

The company confirmed that the database, which was compromised between late February and early March, included eBay customers' name, encrypted password, email address, physical address, phone number and date of birth. However, the company added that no financial information or other confidential personal information were compromised.

Meanwhile, the company said the move to ask users to change passwords will only enhance security for eBay users. It is also working with law enforcement and leading security experts to aggressively investigate the matter and protect its users.

The San Jose, California-based online auctioneer noted that the cyberattackers gained unauthorized access to their corporate network by compromising a few employee log-in credentials, which was first detected only about two weeks ago.

In a similar move last month, online media company AOL asked its email account holders to change their passwords and security questions after a cyberattack.

In mid-December, Target Corp. (TGT) confirmed a massive credit card security breach and said federal authorities were investigating the data breach potentially involving millions of customer credit and debit card records. Some customer information apart from the payment card data previously disclosed, was also stolen during the data breach.

Target said its investigation has determined that the stolen information includes names, mailing addresses, phone numbers or email addresses for up to 110 million individuals. It admitted malware was installed on its point-of-sale system, compromising the credit and debit card data.

In Wednesday's regular trading session, EBAY is currently trading at $50.94, down $1.01 or 1.94% on a volume of 5.80 million shares.