Earlier this week I wrote about a successful eBay Inc. (NASDAQ:EBAY) internal systems hack. I'm sorry to report that the mayhem continues. I wish to thank Ina Steiner of AuctionBytes for her continued efforts as an objective reporting. Today, her report revealed some more interesting information about the matter.
I'll leave you with one thought to ponder: By percentage, how many successful eBay hackers would you think have an ego as big as Vladuz? How many successful eBay hackers would make their hacking talent known? I'm thinking that the larger percentage would keep the truth to themselves. I leave you to do the math.If I held eBay shares I would now have two options. I could either pitch those stocks as far from me as is humanly possible or I could hold on for dear life to ride out the coming storm. The wave of eBay has crested and it's a tidal wave to be sure.











Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
2-24-2007 @ 12:26AM
firemeg said...
My last two blog articles are on this subject at: http://firemeg.blogspot.com
Surprisingly, the mainstream press has failed to (or chosen not to) pick up on this story. The hack in question accompanied by the tens of thousand of associated scam listings and the Prosperpoint breach last week is actually a very big story with far reaching ramifications. Articles in papers and websites in the UK have been following this story closely for the past week. I'm hearing reports that at least a couple major news outlets in Germany are also currently working on stories about the subject.
eBay continues to heavily censor their forums, pulling threads right and left with any mention of Vladuz, hacks or with links to stories about them. eBay stock remains about at a flatline today, perhaps people are beginning to find out about the issue and are waiting to see if another shoe will drop or not. eBay spokesman Hani Durzy is continuing his campaign to downplay the hackings and hijackings by placing the blame on phishing scams (which really, if you think about it, isn't much better for eBay).
If eBay is successful at their current censor and deny tactics, it shouldn't be an issue for stock prices. If they can manage to keep major new outlets in the US from digging into this, investors will probably be safe. If a major paper digs into the story, they will undoubtably find out far more than many bloggers and it could be quite bad for eBay and for investors in eBay stock.
2-24-2007 @ 12:27AM
Whistleblower said...
it might be an idea to check the papers on sunday ;)
2-24-2007 @ 12:28AM
Ketherine said...
I leave you to do the math...
... and we already know what eBay's calculators are like http://www.pheebay.com/blog/2007/01/ebay-fuzzy-math-fuzzy-logic-or-tale-of.html
2-24-2007 @ 12:29AM
DEZ said...
VLADUZ THE EBAY HACKER WAS JUST MENTIONED ON THE RADIO
2-24-2007 @ 12:30AM
firemeg said...
What radio station was that? And where are you located?
2-24-2007 @ 12:31AM
DEZ said...
IT WAS ON BBC RADIO - NOT SURE WHICH CHANNEL
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/4995300.stm
2-24-2007 @ 12:31AM
Chris said...
Interestingly a lot of sources have still failed to Seperate the Vladuz taunts from the hijacked accounts. Speaking to eBay today they have no evidence to suggest that they're connected. In fact the vladuzsgi account could well have been renamed to match one of the gmail addresses used in the hijacked account rather than the other way around
2-24-2007 @ 12:32AM
leroy said...
Ebay has been so screwy latly, i always see people catching the boot for COpyright infringments for wierd things, selling guitars or golfclubs, why would that be infringing if you own the actual product, they have become very very unhelpful in the last few years and refuse to budge on the simpliest of things..
http://locaswt.com
2-24-2007 @ 11:26AM
Chris said...
In this instance it's highly likely it's the result of a worldwide attack detailed at http://www.websense.com/securitylabs/alerts/alert.php?AlertID=743
eBay have confirmed that there is no evidence to suggest that vladuz is connected with the hijacked accounts, certainly not that software from him was used
http://www.tamebay.com/2007/02/hacking-taunting-and-ebay-security.html
2-24-2007 @ 11:27AM
firemeg said...
I don't think anyone actually believes that Vladuz is responsible for ALL scam listings on the site. There are reports that Vladuz is selling his plugin to the Chinese so they can run scams, and to others for the same reason. I've seen enough evidence to believe that many of the scams are the result of some type of hacking and code manipulation, but also that there are many many scams on ebay that are the result of simple phishing hijacks.
2-24-2007 @ 3:19PM
Ruth said...
big deal!!!
computers get hacked everyday. why is this any different? so what if their PR guy lied? That's what PR guys do.
Ebay are a strong buy. You watch us hit $40 by the end of next month.
2-24-2007 @ 8:15PM
Manic eBay Seller said...
[b]I'm thinking that the larger percentage would keep the truth to themselves. I leave you to do the math.[/b]
You've got that right. Over 18 months ago I found an eBay login transmitted in clear text in an http header from the eBay site:
eBayAdmin.dll?mfcISAPICommand=AccountItemSearch& userid=xxxxxxx@ebay.com&pass=xxxxxxxx
(I've x'd out the user and password) As you can see this is a login (no longer valid) to an ebay administration server. In this particular case, an eBay Trust and Safety account. This was all transmitted by eBay during a normal administrative process. There may be literally millions of these messages in server logs across the internet. Your math just got more complicated.
I did not try to log in nor hack with it, nor did I brag in the media about a "hack" - I notified eBay about their problem, and was mistreated by them; a mistake which will not be repeated. You are absolutely correct that hacks and potential hacks will remain hidden until exploited.
eBays prosperity depends on buyer confidence. When that is gone, so is eBay.
2-25-2007 @ 11:49AM
Depity Dawg said...
None of my three ebay accounts has been hacked.
Oops, did I say three accounts?
Damn! there goes the validity of those membership numbers!
My bad.
2-25-2007 @ 11:52AM
paul t said...
I just gotten suspended from the ebay boards. What for? I asked "who is Vladuz?"
Screw you!!! you are cybernazis ebay.
2-25-2007 @ 11:54AM
Don Corleone said...
Ebay should be shut down or sold to the mafia.Why are they are allowed to carry out with this criminal activity? I wonder what percentage of Ebays profits are the result of illegal activitys.
2-25-2007 @ 11:55AM
Doug G. said...
Tame Bay is regurgitating Ebay pablum that is deceptive and inaccurate.
Valduz did not use only "hijacked Ebay staff" accounts - on Friday he created his own ID that designated him as an Ebay employee on the boards.
So why doesn't Ebay invest in some real security? Start at the top and get some new people in there that know what they are doing. Who they have now is sadly insufficient or incompetent. The stockholders should be demanding that the entire top management resign. The site has been tarnished beyond repair.
Cover up and denial instead of security. About time the press started to cover this - it's been going on a long time.
The first post of Vladuz as an employee on the US boards was back in December. Ebay had ample notice there was a problem and did nothing.
2-25-2007 @ 11:56AM
Marsello said...
Props for Ina Steiner for her reporting on this eBay scam. But I wonder if this recent news about eBay security would cause enough panic for the eBay stockholders to start selling or for shorts to start circling around.
http://www.feedbacksecrets.com/
2-25-2007 @ 11:56AM
Lisa said...
Ebay could do with a short in their stock to exercise their buyback they announced in the 4th qtr earnings.
2-27-2007 @ 12:55PM
My Blind Auctions said...
Sorry to disappoint the short interests but eBay is going to ride out this security breach storm. Investors are more concerned about the bottom line rather than news like this, if any movement is expected out of this, it would largely due to eBay's decision to ramp up its security, which would affect its bottom line.
http://www.myauctionfeedback.com/blindauctions/
3-01-2007 @ 12:00PM
Radu said...
Hello.. I am a small romanian virus but, because of the poor IT technology in my country i'm not capable of doing anything to your computer. So, would you be kind enough to delete yourself one of your files and pretend to be scared..
:)