eBay Leak Makes Your Purchase History Public, Says Report

eBay has become one of the biggest shopping destinations online.

Many of us have purchased items on the site and assumed some level of privacy in doing so. A recent discovery reveals your purchases may not be as private as you previously assumed.

Tehlia Minkus discovered the vulnerability recently while attempting to leave feedback on a purchase he made that went wrong.

Tehlia noticed that with a small amount of interest she could discover a history of all of the purchases the seller she was attempting to give feedback to had ever made.

To ensure that the problem was wide reaching, researchers from New York University (NYU) tested a database of 5580 accounts and said they were able to find the purchase history 96% of the time, according to a report from Consumer Affairs.

Perhaps this newly discovered security gap may not be a big deal to many, however when you consider the sensitive materials sold over eBay, many people might be concerned.

Things like pregnancy and HIV tests are routinely sold through the site. Beyond that many consumers don’t want their purchases revealed to strangers no matter what they may be.

Minkus’s paper on the issue was presented at the Privacy Enhancing Technology Symposium and can be read here.

Are you an eBay user? Is their security a major concern of yours?

Let us know in the comments section below!


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Author Profile: Consumer Expert Matthew Thomas

Matthew Thomas is an extreme pop culture junkie and proud of it. A long time fan of comics, film, music & wrestling, he writes about all four. My writing for Whatculture.com can be found here: http://whatculture.com/author/matthew-thomas

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