Over 500 Million Linkedin Accounts Have Their Data Leaked And Sold - Android

A massive Linkedin data leak has affected half a billion users. According to Cyber News, over 500 million users have had their data scraped, and is currently up for sale on a popular hacker forum. An additional 2 million accounts were posted as proof of concept. Linkedin ID’s, and phone numbers were leaked along with [...]

Read More...

The post Over 500 Million Linkedin Accounts Have Their Data Leaked And Sold appeared first on Android Headlines.

A massive Linkedin data leak has affected half a billion users. According to Cyber News, over 500 million users have had their data scraped, and is currently up for sale on a popular hacker forum. An additional 2 million accounts were posted as proof of concept.

Linkedin ID’s, and phone numbers were leaked along with other information

This leak comes just after a large data leak happened with Facebook. The user who leaked and is currently selling the Linkedin data, or “threat actor” has boasted that they are selling the information of the 500 million unfortunate souls for a four-figure sum- which means they’ll make anywhere between $1,000 and $9,999. To prove the legitimacy of their work, they put up a large 2 million accounts as just a sample.

The information involved in this Linkedin data leak is pretty sensitive. The threat actor stole users’ email address, their Linkedin IDs, their phone numbers, their full names, their work titles, their genders, links to their Linkedin profiles, and links to other social media profiles.

Hackers can use this data for malicious operations like phishing scams, spamming other email addresses, and hacking into the respective accounts. Needless to say, a person can do a lot of damage with 500 million accounts in their pocket.

Italy is looking into the data leak

The Guarantor for the protection of personal data (GDPD) has opened an official investigation into the matter on Thursday. They issued a warning to the Italian Linkedin users to watch for any anomalies with their accounts. There’s no word on what measures the GDPD is taking to stop or dampen the dangers of this attack. Italian users asked to pay close attention to their accounts and information. Italy has one of the highest numbers of Linkedin users in Europe.

It’s tough to know which country was hit the hardest by this data attack, but it’s a comfort to know that an official governmental agency is working on the case. More updates will hopefully arise as the investigation continues.

There are some good news, and steps to take to avoid damage

This situation is dire, there’s no avoiding that, but there may be a silver lining here.  The threat actor did not leak users’ bank or credit card information or the users’ home address. With that information up in the air, a person could truly turn someone’s life upside down.

Also, there are many services from trusted sites, like Business Insider and Cyber News, that can check to see if your data was leaked. They can come in handy if you want to know who has your data on their computer. This could help, as it’s hard to trust your data with any service.

The post Over 500 Million Linkedin Accounts Have Their Data Leaked And Sold appeared first on Android Headlines.