LinkedIn leaked personal information of 500 million people?

Following Facebook, it is said that 500 million people’s personal information was leaked on LinkedIn, a business SNS, and it was found to be traded in a hacking fore.

The personal information leak on LinkedIn was due to the discovery of 500 million LinkedIn users’ personal information transaction posts on hacking forums. It is also said that personal information of 2 million people was sold for $2 as proof that the personal information was genuine.

When I actually bought the sample, I found that the transaction data included LinkedIn ID and name, email address, phone number, gender, a link to my profile on LinkedIn, a link to other registered SNS, and job title or job-related information. .

Personal information leaked this time does not contain sensitive information such as passwords or credit card information. However, it is pointed out that attacks such as targeted phishing attacks, spam emails, and password verification through brute force attacks are possible only with the information leaked this time. For a competent cybercriminal, he stresses the importance of the leak, saying there is ample potential to cause damage with just an email address.

Users who are likely to be affected by this breach should be aware of suspicious messages and contact with strangers as a measure to protect themselves from attackers, change email addresses and passwords signed up for LinkedIn, and create strong passwords using a password manager. It is recommended to manage and enable multi-factor authentication for all online accounts in use. Related information can be found here.