Personal data of more than 500 million LinkedIn users was leaked

According to Cyber ​​News, the personal information of 500 million LinkedIn users was leaked and the attacker was selling the data on the Internet, a LinkedIn spokesperson confirmed.

Personal data of more than 500 million LinkedIn users was leaked Picture 1

A LinkedIn spokesperson said: 'We are investigating the matter. The practice of collecting LinkedIn member data violates our terms of service. LinkedIn will endeavor to protect its member data sources. '

However, a LinkedIn representative said that the listing database 'is actually a collection of data from a number of websites and companies'. Data from LinkedIn users includes only information that is publicly listed in their profile. 'This is not a LinkedIn data breach,' said a LinkedIn representative.

Currently, LinkedIn has about 740 million users, so the number of affected users is up to two thirds. The leaked information included user ID, name, email address, mobile phone number, job information, gender and other social media accounts. While these types of data are less sensitive, such as credit card details or social security numbers, information like phone numbers can still be used by bad actors for their own gain.

The attacker sold data on hacker forums and provided 2 million copies of the sample data. The Cyber ​​News proofs confirm that the data is coming from LinkedIn users, but they warn it could come from old files, not the latest.

According to analyst Paul Prudhomme at security intelligence firm IntSights, the leak could have come from hackers infiltrating the system through the computers of LinkedIn employees working remotely.

'During the pandemic, the increasing number of employees working remotely and the increasing frequency of use of home and personal devices increased the likelihood of attacks. It is common for companies to be hacked by hackers through employees' accounts and personal devices, and it is also an easy way to bypass corporate cybersecurity defenses, '' said Paul Prudhomme. .

Just a few days ago, a massive data leak regarding the personal information of 530 million Facebook users was confirmed. But Facebook thinks this is an old source of data from 2019. However, some experiments confirm that this data is still useful up to now, and even the head of Facebook - CEO Mark Zuckerberg was exposed. personal phone number in the case.

Isabella Humphrey

Update 09 April 2021