Amazon Exposed Customer Names & Email IDs In A 'Technical Error'

The biggest shopping day of the year, Black Friday is almost here, but the largest online retailer Amazon seems to have suffered from a data breach.

Some Amazon customers received mail from the company on Tuesday, stating that their names and email IDs were “inadvertently disclosed” due to a “technical error.”

Amazon gave no explanation in the email about how it was exposed or who has access to the compromised information. In fact, the email itself seems a bit sketchy as it includes an Amazon link at the end of the email without the “https” prefix.

Amazon's legit been sending out notices saying sorry we exposed your email address. Seems likely related to this https://t.co/21cRB2dHTk… Besides the brevity, what's giving people pause is they sign the email https://t.co/KDiteRFaeR Why cap the "a" and why no https://? Strange pic.twitter.com/mwty3GmCN1

— briankrebs (@briankrebs) November 21, 2018

Regardless, users on Amazon Seller forums have verified that these emails actually came from Amazon. Meanwhile, the company didn’t say much in response except for one statement:

“We have fixed the issue and informed customers who may have been impacted.”

Amazon has denied the possibility of a data breach and has been even less forthcoming in assisting the affected customers. Several users at the company’s forum have asked the company for the specifics of this data breach, yet none have received a response.

Some Amazon customers are reporting getting an email like this which is rather uhh… short on information about names and email addresses being exposed.

Haven't seen any confirmation from @AmazonHelp yet. pic.twitter.com/0i8UrjDhUl

— Graham Cluley 🐘 @[email protected] (@gcluley) November 21, 2018

The email simply read that “The issue has been fixed. This is not a result of anything you have done, and there is no need for you to change your password or take any other action.”

So, on the brighter side, it confirms that no passwords, phone numbers or other personal information were leaked. However, you may still get more spam or phishing mails in your inbox because the email addresses and names were exposed.

Nevertheless, as a precautionary measure, it’s a good idea to change your password and set up two-factor authentication on your Amazon account.