LinkedIn Goes on Damage Control After Password Theft
LinkedIn Goes on Damage Control After Password Theft
LinkedIn Corp. is reassuring its customers that their data is safe, following a security breach that exposed about 6.5 million of its members’ passwords on an unauthorized web site last week.
In a recent blog post, the social networking company said they have not received reports that any of its 160 million member accounts have been hacked due to the breach. LinkedIn officials said the stolen passwords were encrypted.
Shortly after the security breach last week, LinkedIn officials were encouraging members to change their passwords. The company also said that it had disabled any of its members’ passwords that had been published on the unauthorized web site. LinkedIn also encouraged all of its members to review their tips on how to update passwords and improve account security.
Following last week’s incident, some have criticized LinkedIn for not doing enough to protect member passwords.
Vincente Silveira, a LinkedIn director, says the company is working with the FBI to "aggressively" pursue the perpetrators of this crime.
LinkedIn is a widely used social networking web site in the real estate industry. According to the 2011 REALTOR® Technology Survey Report, about 67 percent of real estate agents and 64 percent of real estate brokers say they use LinkedIn for business purposes—placing the site just behind Facebook as the top social network used by the real estate industry.
Source: “LinkedIn Defends Reaction in Wake of Password Theft,” The Wall Street Journal (June 10, 2012) and REALTOR® Magazine Daily News
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