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Radio 5 Live,2 mins

Former FBI agent: eBay users should reset all passwords

5 Live In Short

Available for over a year

85% of people use the same password on every site and eBay users should change all their passwords to protect from hacking and identity theft, said EJ Hilbert, who spent eight years as a special agent for the FBI. Online marketplace eBay, which has 128 million active users, is making users change their passwords after a cyber-attack into a database containing customers' personal details, between late February and early March. “Think about it, all the information that is reported as being stolen; your name, your address, your birthdate, your telephone number; all the pertinent info about who you are; combine that up a little bit with your online profiles, I can become you if I wanted to,” said Mr Hilbert, who is the head of cyber investigations at the European arm of risk consultancy Kroll. Mr Hilbert also said that in America stolen personal information has been used to take out mortgages and loans in the name of other people. He advised that the perfect uncrackable password is a phrase with 30 plus characters. The auction site said that it had no evidence of there being unauthorised activity on its members' accounts. This clip is from Wake Up To Money on the 22 May 2014.

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