LinkedIn users can check whether data was stolen in a hack

LinkedIn users have recently been able to verify that their credentials are part of the credentials stolen in the 2012 hack. Security researcher Troy Hunt posted the data on his “have I been pwned” site.

Hunt writes that he deliberately waited a while before putting the database on his site. He first wanted to see if the data would spread; this indeed seemed to be happening. Hunt, for example, had previously made the decision to permanently remove the data from the VTech hack from his site because he, along with two others, was the only party holding the data.

Earlier it became clear that the LinkedIn data is being used to take over the social media accounts of famous people. Hunt further notes that it is not entirely clear who received an email from LinkedIn about their password reset. The company itself stated that it has only approached people who have used the same password since 2012. But people who are not members of the site also appear to receive e-mails.

A company spokesperson told Motherboard on Monday that LinkedIn has since reset all passwords after confirming last week that the 2012 hack was larger than previously believed. For example, it turned out that 117 million login details had been stolen instead of 6.5 million.

Users can only check on the researcher’s site whether their email address is in the leaked data. If an email address appears on Hunt’s site, it means that the password that was in use in 2012 is also part of the leaked data. It is therefore advisable to change this password on all sites and not to use it again.