According to a report on Motherboard, a hacker known as “Peace” is selling account information of about 117 million LinkedIn users. This information includes login data like emails and passwords.
According to Motherboard, Peace confirmed this information was stolen during the 2012 LinkedIn security breach where Russian hackers leaked 6.5 million passwords online. At the time, LinkedIn tried to downplay the gravity of the situation but this shows it was a big, serious issue.
Right now, the stolen details are on sale on illegal dark web marketplace, The Real Deal for 5 bitcoin (about $2,200). So far, 90% of the encrypted passwords have been cracked and this took 72 hours.
Cybersecurity is a big issue with social media and email accounts being under threat on a regular basis, and it doesn’t just happen on a personal level. Businesses also get hacked resulting in confidential information being leaked and customers losing a ton of money. Must be why most sites have outrageous standards for passwords to be approved.
LinkedIn has 433 million registered users meaning this breach affects approximately 27% of its users. You may be thinking you don’t have anything to lose, but it’d be wise to change your password now to prevent identity theft.
