6.5 Million Passwords at Linked-In, Leaked! Linked-In Users, Change Your Passwords Now!

News broke out a few days ago about the reportedly 6.5 million password leakage from professional social networking site Linked-In.  This was confirmed by Linked-In themselves in a update report posted Linked-In’s blog.

For those with Linked-In accounts, whether it be active or dormant for sometime, it would still be best for you to do yourself a favor and heed this advise -- change your passwords right now!
The blog post did not elaborate as to how the security at the site has been breached, or details on the scope of the damage, but Linked-In has given its assurance that they will continue to investigate, and they have installed enhanced security measures to those members whose accounts have been compromised and have updated their passwords, as well as to those unaffected member-accounts. 

Sophos, a security research firm said that the hackers couldn’t do much with just a list of isolated passwords.  Yet, why the growing concern?  Experts say that the danger lies on the possibility that these hackers get their hands on the email addresses that are linked-in (pardon the pun) with these passwords.  As reported on the Financial Times, Graham Cluey, a senior technology consultant at Sophos, explains:  “Then they could potentially break into other accounts,” he said, including other social networking, email, or even bank accounts where people have used the same password. “But we simply don’t know what other information the hackers may have.”

For more information about the steps Linked-In has taken for the affected accounts, please do check out their blog post here:An Update on LinkedIn Member Passwords Compromised.

Whether you have a Linked-In account or not, as long as you are registered to any website for that matter where personal information like emails and passwords are required, it’s best to take the necessary precautions. For more tips about internet security, here’s a link to some of our blog posts that discuss and provide information about:online privacy and security.

Have you changed your Linked-in passwords already?  What has been your tried and tested practice of protecting yourself from hackers?