LinkedIn Gets Hacked

DAILY DOT COM - The business social network LinkedIn is confirming reports that some of its users' passwords have been stolen and leaked onto the Internet.

The company said in a blog post that some of the more than six million passwords that were compromised correspond to LinkedIn accounts.  LinkedIn has a lot of information on its more than 160 million members, including potentially confidential information related to jobs being sought.  

Members that have accounts associated with the compromised passwords will notice that their LinkedIn account password is no longer valid. These members will also receive an email from LinkedIn with instructions on how to reset their passwords. Affected members will also receive a second email from Customer Support with more information about the situation.  

Tech publication "The Verge" is reporting a Russian hacker is claiming to have uploaded the passwords.  No word on why.   However, following the report LinkedIn sent out the following tweets notifying users that is was looking into a security breach.  "Our team is currently looking into reports of stolen passwords. Stay tuned for more."  Later the company advised users to stay tuned for more information.  "Our team continues to investigate, but at this time, we're still unable to confirm that any security breach has occurred. Stay tuned here."

Whether your account was compromised, security experts suggest that members go ahead and change their password.  It’s also a good idea, they say, to be proactive about your other web accounts.  For starters, make sure you change your passwords at least once a quarter, or every few months. 

When picking a password, if you have multiple account, try to pick passwords that are hard to guess…don't use words found in the dictionary…make sure your password is at least six characters long…and use a mix of numbers and letters.