LinkedIn Data Breach

What happened

In May 2016, LinkedIn had 164 million email addresses and passwords exposed. Originally hacked in 2012, the data remained out of sight until being offered for sale on a dark market site 4 years later. The passwords in the breach were stored as SHA1 hashes without salt, the vast majority of which were quickly cracked in the days following the release of the data.

Exposed data

Recommended actions

• Change your LinkedIn password immediately, and update it anywhere you reused the same password.
• Enable two-factor authentication on the affected account and on your critical services (email, banking).
• Watch for targeted phishing emails referencing LinkedIn — attackers weaponise breach data quickly.
• Check whether your email address appears in this breach on haveibeenpwned.com.