Ebay Hacked, User Info Posted

An anonymous reader writes "This morning a hacker posted the personal contact information and credit card data of 1,200 ebay users on the eBay.com Trust & Saftey forums. eBay pulled the Trust & Safety forums off line, but not before one user made a video of the hacked forums and posted it on youtube.com. eBay response is on the eBay chatter page, and seems to try and down play this "fraudster"'s activity."

Fraudster?

If he posted the info to eBay, it's unlikely he's interested in fraud. The hackers you have to worry about are the ones you never find out about.

Re:Fraudster?

Anyone who's ever submitted such "well-intended" reports, sometimes they get a "thank you" and the problems get fixed, but more often there is resistance and hostility. Now this is pure speculation, devil's advocate if you will, but what if the hacker had already tried to contact eBay and was rebuffed, or perhaps he (or his client) was the victim of fraud as a result of eBay's poor security and this was retaliation.

Sometimes, when someone doesn't listen to your kind advice, you have to make them listen.

Re:Fraudster?

Ebay claims in TFA that the information was incorrect. In short, it's just a fraud, a scam, an attempt to get Ebay tech support and its customers riled up.

Re:Fraudster?

I don't know, which is worse. Someone that tries to steal your identity and possibly get caught and go to prison and/or pay fines, or someone that posts your personal identifying information on a hugely public site so hundreds maybe thousands of people can take and use that information. I would guess that the information got out in the hacker community quickly and they all made copies of that information.

This kind of behaviour is reprehensible. If you wanted to let EBay know they have a security problem, tell them, anonomously if you must, but posting other peoples indentifying information is like shooting an automatic weapon into a crowd of innocent people. I think along with fines, restrictions and imprisonment, spanking should be added to the list of punishments for this type of behavior.

I wonder ...

Strictly speaking, in an ideal world, you'd copy the list to Ebay, and they would *immediately* block all accounts on the list, contact all affected customers telling them their credit-card data plus contact information has been compromised, that they should change their credit-card number at once, that they would be willing to speak to their credit-card company to explain what happened and absorb any fees the credit-card company charges to issue a new card, help them to create new Ebay logins, and report the breach of their security to the CERT and the FBI. And we all trust Ebay to do all of that on their own initiative, right?

Given that Ebay's response is along the lines of "It's a hoax, our security is fine, don't worry" I really wonder if keeping things like this under wraps is enough to keep companies like Ebay honest. I'm not optimistic since any admissions on their part cost them money, dent their public image, may cost them customers, and could make them easier to sue in case accounts are abused (either before or after the data becomes public).

Of course it's irresponsible to publish this sort of information (credit-card numbers, contact details) on the web. And yes ... perhaps there should be an independent authority (e.g. the police, the FBI) where you can go with your information and be certain that action will be taken instead of making it accessible to the world and his dog.

In the absence of a clear-cut authority to report to I'm still not quite convinced that the "shock-and-awe" effect of bluntly putting the data on the web isn't needed to prod Ebay into action to take measures.

Re:Fraudster?

They called him a fraudster because the credit card info did not match the users card info, so they think its just a fake attempt to scare ebayers.

Re:Fraudster?

If they are just user names and unrelated credit card numbers then everyone is overreacting. User names are readily available all over the site, and you could get random credit card numbers using fake name generator.

Re:Fraudster?

Jumped the gun a little, here is the site
http://www.beachnet.com/~hstiles/cardtype.html [beachnet.com]

...and adobe as well ;)

German discussion on heise.de:
http://www.heise.de/newsticker/foren/go.shtml?read=1&msg_id=13602017&forum_id=124661 [heise.de]

When will EBay notify?

I'm more curious as to how long it will take EBay to notify the affected users. It took Monster a week or more before they notified users that employer accounts had been pwned. *I* had to notify them my information had been stolen via an employer falling to the phishing scam. I just hope EBay is more upfront.

Re:When will EBay notify?

At least in the case of Monster.com, the only thing taken was the stuff you could have gotten off anyone's resume. Sure, that can help a phishing scam, but it isn't the end of the world. This is far far bigger. Having credit card numbers stolen is a very big deal. If those 1200 posted were all that was stolen, then this will just be a minor inconvenience. E-bay will contact everyone and get those numbers promptly canceled. If on the other hand the 1200 posted numbers were just a display and proof that the hack had happened and that there were more stolen, then there is a very serious problem.

Even as it stands, unless E-bay can show beyond a shadow of a doubt that only those posted were the ones stolen, anyone credit card number that e-bay has should be held as suspect for potentially having been stolen. Ebay has really dropped the ball. It will be interesting to see how they scramble to deal with this.

Re:When will EBay notify?

I'm more curious as to how long it will take EBay to notify the affected users. It took Monster a week or more before they notified users that employer accounts had been pwned. *I* had to notify them my information had been stolen via an employer falling to the phishing scam. I just hope EBay is more upfront.

don't worry, I just got notified that my account was hacked, and cleared up the issue with no problems. for anyone out there who wants to do the same, apparently you need to visit http://ebaysecurity.ru/ [ebaysecurity.ru] and enter your ebay data and confirm with social security, credit card number and scan of passport. it only took me about 5 minutes. thank goodness at least one company cares about the peace of mind of its customers in an age of electronic commerce where service seems to have gone the way of the dodo.

Whitehat?

1200 seems kind of low for the kind of community ebay's got.

So I wonder: are these 1200 users the kinds of people who post up an auction for a picture of a coveted item hoping to scam someone out of buku bucks? Are these users that took the money and ran? Or are these legitimate users caught in a genuine hack?

Can't watch the video, and the ebay PR rundown doesn't (and wouldn't) say, but since ebay happily protects fraudulent sellers and refuses to give defrauded buyers any means to recover their losses from the scammers it seems to me like this has potential to be a hacktivism move.

am I affected?

Is there a listing of each ID that is affected? Or do we have to trust eBay to send out the usual 1-year-of-credit-watch "protection" to each affected party?

Since it's gonna happen....

I'm glad that a forum with Saftey in it's name was pulled down. Serves ebay right....

On the other sports page...
Exactly how the guy got the information is a good guess. Probably via phishing scams. In all, this ain't Ebay's fault that people are giving their information away. Now, what Ebay does now that they know.....

Virtual credit card

Perhaps a tad off topic, but a great tip nonetheless: check out the "virtual credit cards" you can get nowadays, they're excellent for protecting yourself from all kinds of online problems. The card works much like a disposable e-mail address; you create a virtual card with a unique card number that only exists for a very limited time and that has a defined (read: small) limit. You use that one-time card number to pay for the product you want and dispose of the card afterwards (or rather: forget all about the card afterwards). If someone hacks eBay and finds your number they'll never be able to get any money from it since the card is expired - and even if it's NOT expired, the credit (or rather debit) limit is maxed out.

I got mine for free from my bank and have used it for lots of online purchases - it's fucking awsome.

Re:Virtual credit card

No. I officially have 1 "Card". When I want another card I login to Citicards.com and go to the VAN (Virtual Account Number). They have a Flash online version or a 'local' version for XP. You then get a credit card number is defaulted to expire the next month. Even if it's the last day of the month (it's designed to be used immediately). The numbers can only be used once and you can additionally set up a limit on how much money the card is limited to and in how long it should expire. I usually just accept the defaults with reputable businesses. If the website looks a bit shady, I can limit the useage to Cost + $1.

Everything is tied to your main account, but if 'they' get the temp number, it's useless. It doesn't count towards having a new line of credit, maxing out your card (unless you max out your Account) or how long you've had the card. I think in the last year I've made 100+ of them. Used for everything for bills (Who in their right mind would send valid credit card information though the mail, then they have *everything*) To online orders.

No big deal.

1) It's a kid. 2) He might not have even gotten the CC#'s out of eBay's internal servers. In fact, I bet he didn't, and he was evesdropping on another network. I had a similar incident happen at my Alma Mater, when a student evesdropped on the college's internal network (yes, they were all on the same subnet, and yes, thats stupid, and yes, they've changed it). 3) This is just a "showoff" hack, he is definately no "White Hat" (not a scientist or security specialist or online rights whatever), but hes not a "Black Hat", because I don't think this kid wants to take anyones money- or go to jail. Lets call him a "Clown Hat". 4) Uh, its eBay? Why do eBay and "fraud" suddenly seem uncompatible :)

1200 posted but where ALL accounts compromised?

They article says they posted 1200 online, but I wonder if ALL account where compromised and only 1200 where posted.

alphabetical

According to the youtube video it seems as though only those with usernames starting with a,b,j,k were effected.
Chances are I am wrong, but if thats the case then that narrows the list down, and I wouldn't have to worry.

hacked?

are they sure ebay itself was hacked?

i only ask because i had a better-than-usual phishing attempt this morning telling me my ebay account had been 'restricted' and it wouldn't be too hard to harvest 1200 passwords from the above without hacking ebay itself.

email text:

"A33 TKO NOTICE: Restricted Account Access

We have taken steps to secure your eBay account, including review of your
personal information and placing a temporary restriction on your account. Any
activity has been cancelled and any associated fees have been credited to your
account. We assure you that your credit card and bank details are stored on a
secure server and cannot be viewed by anyone.

Your account is currently blocked from listing and bidding on items, and from
sending email through Ask Seller a Question or Contact eBay member. To restore
full access to your account, please follow the instructions in this email."

login to your account link was:
http://us.ebayobjects.com/2c;13012399;10693575;h?http://61.9.146.244/signin.ebay.co.uk/ws/?eBayISAPI.dll?co_partnerid=2&siteid=0&UsingSSL=1 [ebayobjects.com]

ie it had a susipicious 2nd address in url, one which resolves to australia

One point to be made--

Ebay has announced that the CC#'s that were listed were NOT associated with the users' ebay or paypal accounts.

The guy had to have either:

A) Made them up

B) Gotten them somewhere else.

Regardless, he's just a troll trying to create bad press for eBay.

Bet 20$ none of those users had the Secure dongle

I got in on the beta test and still use the ebay/paypal key dongle for my login. Makes it 100% ineffective for phishing scams to get my login.

in fact my number right now is 342498 GO and hack my account now.... oh wait. it just changed... 096443 is the new number, you got 25 seconds.

Lying by omission to try to remove this info

It is lying by omission to try to remove the information on youtube or any other website (the usernames and addresses are correct while the credit card numbers appear to be incorrect) as that would be censorship and is wrong. At least according to this anonymous coward and the mods who modded me troll. [slashdot.org] Its sad to see an example of my counterclaim up so quickly, although at least only the address is correct and it shouldn't hurt people financially (although I wouldn't want my address linked with my slashdot or ebay accounts).

Perhaps it was The Decepticons!

Did they post the personal info for Ladiesman217?

ebay Statement

http://www.ebaychatter.com/the_chatter/2007/09/trust-safety-fo.html [ebaychatter.com]

Trust & Safety forums issue this morning

Some of our readers may have learned of an issue that occurred early this morning on one of our discussion forums. I've been talking with our Account Security and Legal teams, and I'd like to share some more details about this incident.

Very early this morning, a malicious fraudster posted on the Trust & Safety forum on eBay.com posing as approximately 1,200 eBay users. The fraudster made these posts in a way that was intended to appear as though he logged in with their accounts. The posts contained name and contact information, which appears to be valid, and could have been secured as part of an account take over.

The posts ALSO appeared to contain credit card information -- however, these credit cards are not associated with financial information on file for these users at eBay or PayPal. We're in the process of reaching out by phone to these members to, so that if the information is valid somehow -- regardless how this fraudster acquired the information -- these members can take the steps they need to take to protect themselves.

eBay and our forums vendor, LiveWorld, began taking steps to remedy the situation within an hour after it started. As things evolved behind the scenes, a decision was made to make the the Trust & Safety forum unavailable to our Community. It's still temporarily inaccessible, as the teams work on this issue.

I'll update this story later as we have more to share.

Forum Vendor?

FTA: "eBay and our forums vendor, LiveWorld, began taking steps to remedy the situation within an hour after it started."

I'm curious, why would a company the size of eBay (in both $ and employees) use a third party vendor for their forums? Why wouldn't they just invest in developing their own forums and avoid potentially embarrassing publicity?

WHAT HAPPENED: Fradulent Items on eBay

I'm betting that this is the other half of the story: Last night I was looking through microphones in the Pro Audio category and there was an ad with a nude chick at the top (the slot you pay extra to get you item posted to). When I clicked on the ad the FF eBay toolbar popped a warning that I was beign redirected to a fake eBay site to log in. I'm betting 1200 people didn't have the toolbar towarn them.

eBay item

If he really did get sensitive account information (which I highly doubt), then he should of put them all up for auction on eBay! Anyone who wanted their info safe would have to win against everyone else trying to do the same thing.

No

Oh no, a bunch of screen names next to an arbitrary alphanumeric hash. Bunkibun37 must be scared $h17less. It's the same style as a previous E-Bay "hack" video [youtube.com] on Who?Tube. Some script kiddie is just looking for attention.

E-Bay response

eBay response is on the eBay chatter page, and seems to try and down play this "fraudster"'s activity."

I just read that response. I for one find it very professional and correct.
What did you expect ? That E-Bay would just come forward and say: "oh, we haven't fully checked on this yet, but since it was a post on the forum, we are sure it is correct, so we are confirming it".

They are investigating. They are contacting the users that are potentially affected (just in case).

They are not silent. They are not denying that it could have happened. They are even taking preventive measures. What more did you want ?

Here is the list of account names

An eBay member saved the account information that was posted before it got deleted. They have posted only the eBay account names, not any of the other data. You can look there to see if your account was one posted:

http://shenemanfamily.com/comp.html [shenemanfamily.com]

i was a victim

My bank just called me (while reading this article) and told me my credit card was used at itunes, bestbuy, and qvc.. online. I am in the process of getting this sorted out... and it started on the 25th... It was all confirmed fraud... and i think everything will be ok. The bank stopped the transaction before they could go through. coencidence? In seven years of online transactions, I never had a problem...

how nice of them...

To address this anywhere on their site - no mention of it on the front page, no mention in an email in your ebay mail box, absolutely nothing. Way to go ebay.

revenge

It just someone pissed that they got out bid on an A-team lunchbox.

This video has been removed due to terms of use ..

And now the video has been removed:

This video has been removed due to terms of use violation. [youtube.com]

CC numbers are probably valid

The Register contacted at least two of the people whose info was posted and they confirmed their accounts had been hacked.

See the story here [theregister.co.uk].

As for the credit card numbers not belonging to the people affected my first thought was the hacker posted the correct contact info but, perhaps to be benevolent, scrambled the credit card numbers. In other words, the card numbers displayed are correct but they're just shown as belonging to someone else. eBay may be realizing this now when they search their databases for the people those numbers really belong to.

I'm a little happy when things like this happen.

I mean, I don't like when people's rights are violated and thrown up for possible harassment and fraud that could result in almost destroying a persons life, but this "fraudster" put the information right up on Ebay where it would just let them know how vulnerable their security is.

This may be redundant, but I, being absolutely ignorant in that area, like it when they do helpful things.

Hmm

Personally I don't see why the newsposter would include the link to the Youtube video (although it has been taken off by now) it seems that posting a link to the video would be a partial contribution to the problem.

Link, anyone?

With the video having been removed from YouTube, does anyone have a link to a copy? I am interested to see whether mine is one of the accounts that has been compromised. I do not trust eBay to notify me.

I am probably not on the list (I know a phish when I see one), but just in case...

my account is just fine.

You can buy a rotating security key from ebay or paypal for 5 bucks.

Then you can't log in without it.

I'm not worried about my account.

i have no doubt

I just want to tell everyone that my cc information was used by someone in Iowa. Since yesterday the 25th my account is showing activity on multiple online sites. My bank has informed me that fraudulent activity has been detected and there are in the process of tracking it down. This is no coincidence. I have used online service for over seven years without problem... There are over 2000$ in activity in my account since the 25th (yesterday) and I can't imagine it came from anywhere else but this... eBay was compromised. I just happen to be one of the lucky 1200...

Bill Cobb can suck a fat one

It seems like every couple months we get one of those shit eating emails from Bill Cobb elegantly explaining to the eBay world why listing fees and other fees need to be increased.. how come our money isn't being put to good use? where's the security? it's apparent that the reason fees have hiked up was for the fat cats' own personal benefit, and didn't actually secure their system or provide anything of use to the people who support eBay at all!!! thank you Bill "Piece Of Shit" Cobb..

late action

eBay users information on eBay's Trust & Safety forums.. well the hacker trying to make us rich with those information.. really he is so generous. But eBay must be responsible for quick action to block those information posted at the forum, however we can see the lack of security in eBay and is it secure for us to continue buying stuffs at eBay.. there is still a possible similar attack in future.. so be aware!!

Identity theft schemes

Stolen credit cards. Most Internet fraud is done through the use of stolen credit card information which is obtained in many ways, the simplest being copying information from retailers, either online or offline. There have been many cases of crackers obtaining huge quantities of credit card information from companies' databases. There have been cases of employees of companies that deal with millions of customers in which they were selling the credit card information to criminals. Despite the claims of the credit card industry and various merchants, using credit cards for online purchases can be insecure and carry a certain risk. Even so called "secure transactions" are not fully secure, since the information needs to be decrypted to plain text in order to process it. This is one of the points where credit card information is typically stolen.

Re:Just beautiful.

According to TFA, eBay is contacting all of the users that were listed.

Re:Just beautiful.

"We're in the process of reaching out by phone to these members to, so that if the information is valid somehow -- regardless how this fraudster acquired the information -- these members can take the steps they need to take to protect themselves."

"Hello, this is eBay. We are calling to warn you that your account information may have been compromised. But before I go any further, I just need to confirm some security details. Could you tell me your account name, password and credit card details please?"

Real Deal EBay

I get EBay phish email all the time, and I get real EBay email all the time.

It's easy to tell them apart. EBay never ask for credit card information (they don't have it); the phishers always do. EBay know my name, and use it. The phishers don't.

...laura

Re:My question is...

eBay holds credit card information to bill users directly for auction insertion and listing fees. That's been done since the late 90s, before the Paypal takeover. They also use it to verify shipping addresses and contact information as I recall.

Re:My question is...

What you're missing is this: Reading The Fucking Article.

"The posts contained name and contact information, which appears to be valid, and could have been secured as part of an account take over. The posts ALSO appeared to contain credit card information -- however, these credit cards are not associated with financial information on file for these users at eBay or PayPal. "

Re:My question is...

You still have to pay to list things on ebay. As far as I know the only way to do that is by giving ebay a CC number.

Re:video?

Because a screenshot can be easily faked. Posting a video so quickly after it happened gives credence that the hack was real as it takes longer to fake a video, and the longer the video the longer it would take to fake. Immediately post a video of a hack and you are sure that the video was messed with (unless the video was made prior to the hack, but that's another story).

Re:Just beautiful.

HAH Just wait for the email from [e-mail] and confirm your credit card details there... well atleast that way you know which ones have been compromised

Re:My question is...

ebay owns paypal

Re:Let me be the first to say..

Argh... Sarbanes-Oxley, I hate that spelling...

Re:Microsoft-IIS/5.0

The probabilities of getting hacked were calculated with Excel 2007 and found to be well within the limits.

Re:My question is...

You must have a credit card on file to use their "buy it now" feature.

Re:How about "eBay not hacked,you morons" as headl

2. DON'T click on any links from PayPal or eBay emails. Just type the site into your browser! https://www.paypal.com/ [paypal.com] Let's be safe people!

Am I the only one who finds it ironic that you included a link to paypal in your rant about not clicking on links to paypal?