eBay Urges Users to Change Passwords After Hack

EBay is urging all users to change their passwords following a cyber attack that compromised one of the commerce site's databases.

According to today's announcement, the database contained encrypted passwords, but there is no evidence that financial or credit card data was accessed or compromised, or that there was any unauthorized activity on eBay users' accounts.

Still, eBay suggests that everyone change their passwords; users will be reminded starting today via email, the Web, and other channels.

The hack, which occurred between late February and early March, was detected only two weeks ago. EBay has since conducted "extensive tests" on its networks before issuing today's warning.

"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," the company said in a statement.

Earlier today, there was a bit of confusion as to whether this warning was accurate after a blog post about the hack from the eBay-owned PayPal was removed, CNET reported. It has since been reposted.

"We know our customers trust us with their information," eBay said, "and we take seriously our commitment to maintaining a safe, secure and trusted global marketplace."

The hack comes in the wake of the Heartbleed bug. Discovered in April, the flaw in OpenSSL left encrypted data open to scammers for more than a year.

:story: PC Magazine