Hacker Accessing eBay Server Suspends a Handful of Accounts

A hacker who gained illegal access to a server of eBay Inc on October 5, 2007 caused temporary suspension of the accounts of its few members, the online auction company said.

Nichola Sharpe, spokeswoman for eBay, said that the company was able to quickly prevent the hack from extending to cause permanent damage. There was no evidence of the fraudster getting hands on sensitive information like customers' financial details, Sharpe said. PC World published this in news on October 8, 2007.

eBay has brought the affected customers' accounts back to normal state and is alerting the users, Sharpe said. However, she declined to specify the number of accounts that suffered the hacker's manipulation.

eBay further said that for the first time the attack on the site was not through a phishing process, rather the access to the selected accounts by means of other techniques.

Sharpe said that EBay encounters attacks that compromise its systems virtually every day. When the company learned about the recent attack, it took immediate action. While the site blocks the traditional methods, which the bad guys use to exploit the system, it wouldn't be a surprise if they try to find new techniques to break in. The battle (against hackers) still continues, she added.

The incident of October 5, 2007 was elaborated on a blog called AuctionBytes the next day from which users came to believe that a fraudster identified as Vladuz committed the crime. Reporter Juan Carlos Perez for IDG News Service picked up the story on October 8, 2007.

Vladuz, who has been responsible for the recent hack into eBay, has been aiming to attack the site for atleast last ten months. It is believed he positioned names, addresses and e-mail IDs of about 1,200 eBay customers on the site's discussion forums. He also positioned some of their credit card numbers there.

The eBay posting made on October 8, 2007 said there had been no access of financial information. This was because the data covering credit card was much more secured than members' contact details. The eBay moderator said that only a "handful" of accounts were affected.

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» SPAMfighter News - 10/24/2007