Consumer Alert

The Office of Consumer Protection at the Montana Department of Justice wants to alert you to a message involving eBay accounts.

Yesterday, eBay Inc. announced that the company asked all eBay users to change their eBay passwords due to a cyber attack that compromised a database containing encrypted passwords and other non-financial data. 

The database included eBay customers’ name, encrypted password, email address, physical address, phone number and date of birth.  However, after conducting extensive tests on the networks, there is no evidence of the compromise resulting in unauthorized activity for eBay users, and no evidence of any unauthorized access to other financial or credit card information, which is stored separately in encrypted formats.  Likewise, the file did not contain Social Security, taxpayer identification or national identification information. 

WHAT TO DO:

The belief is that changing passwords will help protect eBay users and is an information security best practice for everyone. 

How to change your eBay password:

Log into your eBay account

Click on your name in the top left corner, and select Account Settings

Now click “Personal Information.”  You should see an option to “edit” your password.

It’s a good idea to use different passwords for different online accounts.

NEXT STEPS:

For updates from eBay, visit:  http://www.ebayinc.com/in_the_news/story/faq-ebay-password-change.  For questions, call eBay’s Customer Support at (866) 540-3229.

For general information about keeping your personal information safe in cyberspace, call the Montana Department of Justice’s Office of Consumer Protection at (800) 481-6896 or (406) 444-4500, or visit us at https://doj.mt.gov/consumer/for-consumers/