Hackers nick a database full of eBay user information

After somehow obtaining a number of employee log-in credentials, the attackers used the codes to break into eBay’s corporate network.

“It wasn't until two weeks ago that eBay discovered employee credentials had been stolen,” CNN reports. “The company then conducted a forensic investigation of its computers and found the extent of the theft.”

eBay did not say how many of its 148 million active accounts are affected by the hack, but asked all users to reset their passwords.

An eBay spokeswoman said the breach impacted "a large number of accounts."

The hackers took customer names, account passwords, email addresses, physical addresses, phone numbers and birth dates.

The passwords were encrypted with a technique called hashing, which turns text into scrambled code. And they were "salted" with an added random digit or two. “Also, eBay's password requirements are ranked slightly better than average by password manager Dashlane,” CNN reports.

EBay's subsidiary, PayPal, keeps payment information on a separate network and said it was untouched by the data breach.  

ThreatWatch is a regularly updated catalog of data breaches successfully striking every sector of the globe, as reported by journalists, researchers and the victims themselves.