Personal Data of Over 92 Percent LinkedIn Users Exposed in New Breach: Report

LinkedIn has reportedly suffered yet another breach, this time exposing data of over 700 million users. LinkedIn has a total of 756 million users, which means that the data of more than 92 percent of its users has been compromised in this new breach. The new dataset obtained by an unknown hacker is said to consist of personal details of LinkedIn users, including phone numbers, physical addresses, geolocation data, and inferred salaries. In April, LinkedIn confirmed a data breach affecting 500 million subscribers wherein personal details like email address, phone number, workplace information, full name, account IDs, links to their social media accounts, and gender details were listed online.

The new dataset of 700 million users is also on sale on the Dark Web, wherein the hacker has posted a sample set of 1 million users for buyers. RestorePrivacy was the first to spot this listing on the Dark Web and the sample data, when cross-verified by 9to5Google, is said to be genuine and up to date. The sample dataset that has been published on the Dark Web includes user information like email addresses, full names, phone numbers, physical addresses, geolocation records, LinkedIn username and profile URL, inferred salaries, personal and professional experience/ background, gender, and social media accounts and usernames.

9to5Google reached out directly to the hacker who says that the data was obtained by exploiting the LinkedIn API to harvest information that people upload to the site. The dataset does not include passwords, but the information is still very valuable and could amount to identity theft or phishing attempts.

To protect your data, it is important to look at the safety, security, and privacy settings of the apps you use and make sure that these are set up properly. Ensure that you have set up a strong password and indulge in the habit of changing them frequently. Also, enable two-factor authentication (2FA) wherever available, and do not accept connections, especially on LinkedIn and Facebook, from unknown people. Subscribe to sites like Have I Been Pwned for notifications if your email address is part of a data breach.