Oh dear, on foot of the price fall (collapse?) following the knock-on effects of the Facebook ipo, Linkedin it seems, now have a security breach. And yep, it comes just after their recent problems with Linkedin smartphone app for IOS update transmitting users meeting notes back to Linkedin servers without permission.
Although LinkedIn haven't "confirmed" it, we all know it's there and if you have a Linkedin account, change your password now. This is spammer heaven if they have yours.
6.5 million passwords appeared on a Russia hacker site today. Although it represents about 5% of LinkedIn users, that's no comfort if you're in the 5%. LinkedIn estimate they've about 160m users.
Twitter users report report that they've found their own hashes buried in the massive text dump and of course, email addresses may also be there. A tweet from LinkedIn at the end of this blog is an object lesson in how not to assage people's fears.
"Stay tuned" as it says, is a bit too cool for me anyway and further tweets say that they've haven't got much further with it. Bloggers earlier in the week had talked about attempts to hack LinkedIn before we heard this. So should have they.
A breach like this coming on foot of the other issues is damaging if it's not handled correctly. It will further dampen investor confidence in the stock for one, probably bringing the share price down again. It will also create an image that LinkedIn isn't as "together" as it might be. And with Facebook and all that damage, it makes Social Media look like a pretty uncool place. So it's not good all round.
Especially to a LinkedIn with more of a "business" ethic where information is considered a bit more "confidential". And you know LinkedIn....they make even navigation difficult.
So a bad day at LinkedIn.
Don't you have one tomorrow.
Change your password.
(To change your LinkedIn password, log onto your account. Click on your
name in the upper right corner and then click on the link for Settings.
In the Settings section, click on the Change link next to Password.
You'll be prompted to to enter your old password and then create a new
one. Aim to pick a complex password that's not easy to decipher. Then
click on the Change Password button.)
Our team is currently looking into reports of stolen passwords. Stay tuned for more.
I heard this report and can hardly believe, that LinkedIn, a popular business media site, is hacked. I was worried about my account in LinkedIn too.
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