Six Million LinkedIn Passwords Leaked

LinkedIn is the social network of choice for business professionals around the world. They will be alarmed by news released today that over 6 million passwords from the site were leaked onto the web recently.
The social network is investigating the claims that over 6 million of its users passwords were published onto a Russian hacker website.

Norwegian IT website Dagens IT reported the breach, with 6.5 million encrypted passwords posted to the Russian hacker site. Security researcher Per Thorsheim has also confirmed reports via his Twitter feed, stating that the attackers have posted the encrypted passwords to request help cracking them.

Finnish security firm CERT-FI is warning that whilst user details have not been posted, it is believed that the attackers will have access to user data as well as their passwords.

LinkedIn tweeted earlier today that their team is currently investigating the report, but have not released an official statement yet.

LinkedIn, which has over 150 million users, has not released a formal statement, but tweeted: "Our team is currently looking into reports."

Initial reports suggest that as many as 300,000 passwords have already been UN-encrypyted, and security experts are encouraging users to update their passwords immediately.

The site has over 150 million users, so the security breach effects less than 10% of its users, but nevertheless this should not be underestimated.