EBay says client information stolen in hacking attack

EBay is urging 145 million users of its online commerce platform to change their passwords after a cyber attack compromised customer data.

The company said on Wednesday that hackers stole non-financial information, such as email addresses, encrypted passwords, and birth dates between late February and early March.

An eBay spokesperson said a large number of accounts may have been compromised, but declined to say how many.

Julia Horwitz is consumer protection counsel at the nonprofit Electronic Privacy Information Center in Washington, DC.

(SOUNDBITE) (English) JULIA HORWITZ, CONSUMER PROTECTION COUNSEL AT ELECTRONIC PRIVACY INFORMATION CENTER, SAYING:

"I think, unfortunately, I wasn't all that surprised to see there had been another data breach. Over the past year, we've heard a lot about internet firms having their databases breached."

She says eBay needs to adopt stronger methods to protect data.

(SOUNDBITE) (English) JULIA HORWITZ, CONSUMER