Employment

6.5 M LinkedIn Passwords ‘Are Leaked’

Written by Faizan Patankar

LinkedIn is widely accepted and used as a professional social network. It has now emerged that on 06 June 2012 around 6 million LinkedIn user passwords were dumped on a Russian web forum. It took LinkedIn more than 2 hours to confirm that some passwords were stolen.

LinkedIn is widely accepted and used as a professional social network. It has now emerged that on 06 June 2012 around 6 million LinkedIn user passwords were dumped on a Russian web forum. It took LinkedIn more than 2 hours to confirm that some passwords were stolen.

LinkedIn is widely accepted and used as a professional social network. It has now emerged that on 06 June 2012 around 6 million LinkedIn user passwords were dumped on a Russian web forum. It took LinkedIn more than 2 hours to confirm that some passwords were stolen.

http://storify.com/Careergeek_blog/6-5-m-linkedin-passwords-are-leaked

 

LinkedIn is widely accepted and used as a professional social network. It has now emerged that on 06 June 2012 around 6 million LinkedIn user passwords were dumped on a Russian web forum. It took LinkedIn more than 2 hours to confirm that some passwords were stolen.

LinkedIn is widely accepted and used as a professional social network. It has now emerged that on 06 June 2012 around 6 million LinkedIn user passwords were dumped on a Russian web forum. It took LinkedIn more than 2 hours to confirm that some passwords were stolen.

LinkedIn is widely accepted and used as a professional social network. It has now emerged that on 06 June 2012 around 6 million LinkedIn user passwords were dumped on a Russian web forum. It took LinkedIn more than 2 hours to confirm that some passwords were stolen.

http://storify.com/Careergeek_blog/6-5-m-linkedin-passwords-are-leaked” target=”_blank”>View the story “6.5 M LinkedIn Passwords ‘Are Leaked'” on Storify</a>]<br /> <h1>6.5 M LinkedIn Passwords ‘Are Leaked’</h1> <h2>LinkedIn is widely accepted and used as a professional social network. It has now emerged that on 06 June 2012 around 6 million LinkedIn user passwords were dumped on a Russian web forum. It took LinkedIn more than 2 hours to confirm that some passwords were stolen.</h2> <p>Storified by Careergeek_blog · Wed, Jun 06 2012 16:36:12</p> <div>Skattertech</div> <div>It can be confirmed that LinkedIn passwords are stolen. The news was officially broken on the LinkedIn blog. <br>Part of the statement reads…. <p><br></p> <p><i>We are continuing to investigate this situation and here is what we are pursuing as far as next steps for the compromised accounts:</i></p> <p><i><br></i></p> <p><i>Members that have accounts associated with the compromised passwords will notice that their LinkedIn account password is no longer valid.</i></p> <p><i><br></i></p> <p><i>These members will also receive an email from LinkedIn with instructions on how to reset their passwords. There will not be any links in these emails. For security reasons, you should never change your password on any website by following a link in an email.</i></p> <p><i><br></i></p> <p><i>These affected members will receive a second email from our Customer Support team providing a bit more context on this situation and why they are being asked to change their passwords.</i></p> </div> <div>Linkedin Blog " An Update on LinkedIn Member Passwords CompromisedWe want to provide you with an update on this morning’s reports of stolen passwords. We can confirm that some of the passwords that were …</div> <div><b>In case you’re curious about the sorts of passwords that appear in the sizable password hash dump, the team at <a target=”_blank” href=”http://fictivekin.com/”>FictiveKin</a> have launched a tool called <a target=”_blank” href=”http://www.leakedin.com”>LeakedIn</a> that takes a text input, hashes it with the SHA-1 algorithm, and checks it against the leaked file. So far, the usual suspects like “linkedin” and “password” are among those that have been leaked, though with passwords that weak it’s no surprise they were among the first to be cracked.</b></div> <div> <div>Early on 06 June 2012, BBC reports caught our eye saying LinkedIn passwords stolen. It reports that around 6 million passwords are believed to be stolen. <br></div> </div> <div>LinkedIn passwords ‘are leaked’Social networking website LinkedIn is investigating claims that over six million of its users’ passwords have been leaked onto the intern…</div> <div>At the same time LinkedIn posted on their twitter timeline that they were looking into the issue</div> <div>Our team is currently looking into reports of stolen passwords. Stay tuned for more.LinkedIn</div> <div>Our team continues to investigate, but at this time, we’re still unable to confirm that any security breach has occurred. Stay tuned here.LinkedIn</div> <div>New Post: Further Update on LinkedIn Member Passwords Compromised. http://blog.linkedin.com/2012/06/06/linkedin-member-passwords-compromised/LinkedIn</div> <div> <p><b>Internet security firm Sophos later confirmed that a file containing 6,458,020 encrypted passwords was, in fact, posted on the internet</b></p> <p>”Although the data which has been released so far does not include associated email addresses, it is reasonable to assume that such information may be in the hands of the criminals,” Sophos said in a statement.</p> <p>”Investigations by Sophos researchers have confirmed that the file does contain, at least in part, LinkedIn passwords.”</p> <p>Sophos recommended that all LinkedIn users change their passwords as a precaution.</p> </div> <div><b>**Developing Story**</b></div>

About the author

Faizan Patankar

I started Career Geek Blog in 2011 to share my experience in job-hunting. I now focus on careers industry and blogging is just a tool to share that info. Love hacking careers. During the day I focus on my hobby - Engineering.