List of 5,534 Hacked eBay Accounts Discovered

Christopher Boyd, Director of FaceTime Security Labs, a malware research firm, has found a list of hacked eBay logins. The list includes 121 pages and carries 5,534 eBay accounts, including usernames, passwords and mail address, as reported by ecommerceguide on October 15, 2008.

As per reports, some of the stolen accounts were inactive, but also included active accounts. There number was more than enough to caution eBay members that they should protect their account. Also, the list of stolen account is probably the outcome of phishing scams targeted at eBay, wherein attackers send fake mails claiming to come from eBay to deceive users into revealing their private details.

The phishing mails direct users to access a site that appears legitimate eBay Website. The site asks users to enter their eBay password and username. Website link attached with mail is inauthentic and used to hack the user's personal information.

The report also informs that many accounts are of recently registered users or users having small feedback scores as these users do not access eBay often. This makes them the most promising targets for hackers.

Further, it is much easier to hack one of these users or an inexperienced eBay user than a regular user, as in several cases most of these users use the similar login information for their PayPal accounts because eBay owns PayPal.

As per the report, the number of login details publicly displayed by lower level hackers shocked everyone. It seems that they want to impress the operators of underground forums through this action. Similarly, it is also shocking to see it in such a well defined manner. And it is also troublesome to see such a huge amount of data, having no duplicates with many accounts active.

Also, Christopher added in the report that several hard spammers and criminals using phishing scams will not circulate the list and will retain the details of eBay account for further use. He also hinted that there might be a young hacker behind this online list, aspiring for popularity on sophisticated online hacker forums.

Related article: Lost Pentagon Data Could be Valuable to US Enemy

» SPAMfighter News - 10/23/2008