Posted by Davetec on Monday, February 27, 2006 at 9:53AM :
I know this is off topic, but many of us use Ebay and might find this helpful.
Saturday night I went out to Ebay to check on a couple auctions I was watching. But when I tried to log in Ebay would not accept my password. So I checked my email and found that Ebay had suspended my account. Ebay claimed someone hacked my account and posted a couple fictitious auctions, which they cancelled. As a result I had to prove my identity and reactivate my account. It wasn’t too big of deal, I’m just glad they didn’t buy anything.
After I corrected the mess I tried to figure out how they got my password. I work with high security networks and I’m familiar with how to protected my information. I have firewalls on my PC and I use complex passwords with upper and lower case letters, numbers, and characters. These are not the kind of password you can guess. Ebay told me I must have clicked the link of one of those scam emails. Though I occasionally get those, I delete them as soon as I get'em and warn my wife about it.
Then I remembered something strange that happened Friday night. I logged on to Ebay and was surfing for a car for my 16-year-old daughter. I clicked on a car auction and it immediately took me to the Ebay log in screen. I thought it was strange because I knew I was logged in. I even went to My Ebay to verify that I was logged in. So this is the part where I must of went brain dead for a few seconds. I went back to the car auction and clicked it again. The Ebay log in screen came up and I put in my ID and Password. The auction still didn't come up, it just kept asking for my log in ID and Password. I gave up and went back to surfing other auctions. Later I noticed that the strange auction that was brand new had been canceled. I think this is more than a coincident and am warning everyone to be careful if you click on an auction that immediately ask for your log in ID and Password.
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