Ebay hacked – is your account safe?

Are you at risk? If you’re an eBayer – seller or buyer – you could be affected by the latest serious security breach.

eBay has announced that hackers have broken in to the company’s databases and gained access to customers’ names and password data, as well as other personal information.

All eBayers are being urged to change their passwords immediately.

The company’s spokeswoman Kari Ramirez told the ABC that the hacks actually took place back in February and March, but have only just been noticed. Email addresses, home addresses, phone numbers and birthdays were all taken. It is believe that encrypted financial data was not accessed.

Ramirez did not say the exact numbers of people affected, just that “a large number” of accounts were affected.

Thankfully, it seems PayPal has not been affected.

Even if you’ve only ever been on the site a couple of times in the past, you should still log in and change your details as soon as possible, just to be safe.

eBay shares fell a little as soon as the news was announced.

Tell us in the stories below if you’ve been hacked or had any problems with eBay or other sites…