Beware LinkedIn Users! Personal Data of About 700 Million Users Leaked

Out of the leaked data of 700 million users, the hackers posted data of 1million people as sample datasets on Dark Web.

The big hand has been cleaned by hackers on LinkedIn data. More than 700 million users data has reportedly been leaked in a new data breach case. LinkedIn has a total of 756 million users, which means that the new breach compromises the data of more than 92 per cent of users.

The new dataset obtained by an unknown hacker includes personal details of LinkedIn users, including phone numbers, physical addresses, geolocation data and estimated salaries. In April, LinkedIn confirmed the data leak, which affects 500 million users. It listed personal details such as email address, phone number, workplace information, full name, account ID, links to their social media accounts and gender details online.

On the other hand, LinkedIn says it did not face data breach but was able to get the information by scraping the network. LinkedIn told us: "We are still investigating the issue, our preliminary analysis indicates that the dataset includes information scraped from LinkedIn as well as information from other sources. It was not a LinkedIn data breach and our investigation has determined that no private LinkedIn member's data was exposed. Scraping data from LinkedIn is a violation of our Terms of Service (Terms of Service) and we are constantly working to ensure that our users' privacy is protected. "

A new dataset of 700 million users on Dark Web is also on sale, with the hackers posting a sample set of 1 million users for buyers. Restore Privacy first saw the listing on the dark web and the sample data was cross-verified by the 9to5Google. The sample dataset published on the dark web includes email addresses, full name, phone number, physical address, geolocation record, LinkedIn username and profile URL, estimated salary, personal and professional experience/background, gender and social media accounts and username information. 

9to5Google went directly to the hackers who says the data was obtained using LinkedIn API (LinkedIn API) to extract information people uploaded to the site. The dataset does not include passwords but the information is still very valuable. It can be used for theft or phishing efforts to identify users. 

To protect your data, it is very important to view the security privacy settings of the apps you use. Make sure these are set up correctly. Make sure you have set up a strong password and also make it a habit to change them again and again. Also, wherever available, apply the two-factor authentication and do not accept connections to unknown people, especially on LinkedIn and Facebook.