LinkedIn password theft: FBI step in to help

LinkedIn, on their blog, updated that passwords were leaked yesterday. The post says:

Yesterday we learned that approximately 6.5 million hashed LinkedIn passwords were posted on a hacker site. Most of the passwords on the list appear to remain hashed and hard to decode, but unfortunately a small subset of the hashed passwords was decoded and published.

To the best of our knowledge, no email logins associated with the passwords have been published, nor have we received any verified reports of unauthorized access to any member’s account as a result of this event.

The blogpost also mentions that the company is working closely with the FBI on the case.

LinkedIn’s blogpost is busy warning users about security measures regarding passwords. The basics remain pretty much the same, change your password every six months, don’t use the same password for different sites, add special characters, numbers to it etc…

It seems after the attack the company has also doubled up security on how its storing user passwords. LinkedIn’s blog assures users that their passwords have been ‘salted’ as well as hashed. Hashed is a common form of storing passwords for web applications. But salting makes it doubly harder for hackers to crack into a database. For more on salting click here.

Source: FirstPost

Prateek Panda

Prateek is the Founder of TheTechPanda. He's passionate about technology startups and entrepreneurship and enjoys speaking to new founders every day. Prateek has also been consistently regarded as one of the top marketing experts in the region.

Recent Posts

Bitcoin Surges Revive Old Questions, but Discipline Outshines the Mania

Every time Bitcoin summits a new high price, the collective room does the same dance:…

37 mins ago

Indian space: Private players fuel satellite refueling & earth observation boom

India’s space sector is stepping boldly into a new era, with private players taking center…

6 hours ago

AI’s risk: Big tech’s bold moves, strange missteps & the search for safety

As AI becomes central to search, decision-making, and even creative work, the question isn’t just…

3 days ago

Intelligent cooking robots are here. Will America warm up to them? 

Imagine a kitchen where a robotic arm dices onions, a vision system judges the perfect…

3 days ago

Your next lover might be a bot: Inside the rise of AI porn

Researchers looked at a million ChatGPT interaction logs and concluded that after creative composition, the most popular…

1 week ago

Talk to me, bot: Why AI therapy is both a hug and a hazard

A recent news informs that some therapists are now secretly using ChatGPT during therapy sessions.…

1 week ago