Amazon tells customers names, email address were exposed

Amazon informed some customers that their email address and name had been exposed.Fred Greaves/Reuters

• Amazon told some customers on Wednesday that their email address and name had been exposed.
• Amazon informed customers in an email that it happened because of a “technical error.”
• The company did not release an estimate of the number of customers affected by the breach.

Amazon told some customers on Wednesday that their email address and name had been exposed due to a “technical error.” Beta News was first to report the breach.  

Here’s how the email to customers reads, according to text shared on Amazon’s seller forums:

Hello,

We’re contacting you to let you know that our website inadvertently disclosed your email address due to a technical error. 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.

Sincerely,
Customer Service

Though Amazon told customers that they would not need to change their passwords, a list of confirmed email addresses does leave customers vulnerable to things like brute-force hacking, where a hacker tries to enter a user’s account by trying commonly used passwords until successful.

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“We have fixed the issue and informed customers who may have been impacted,” a representative for Amazon said in a statement. 

The company did not explain how or where the information became visible, but said that it was not a breach of Amazon’s website or systems.

Some customers who received the email responded with confusion on social media.

“This email is more alarming than it is helpful,” wrote one customer on Twitter.

Another was worried the leaked emails and names would result in customers appearing on spam lists.

“Not nearly good enough Amazon,” he tweeted.