The Lookout: Insights on the PPC Marketplace

June 7, 2012

LinkedIn Leak

by: Jill MacEachern

LinkedIn Leak

It's no secret that LinknedIn experienced a large social network no-no this past week when over 6 million of it's users's passwords were leaked out.  It caused a great deal of havoc and anger amongst it's over 100 million users.

 LinkedIn Leak

 Basically, what caused this to happen is the fact that LinkedIn encrypted the passwords using a SHA-1 algorithm, but didn't use the proper security techniques that would have made cracking the passwords much more difficult for potential hackers, said Paul Kocher, President & Cheif Scientist of Cryptography Research.  The passwords were obscured using a cryptographic hash function, but the hashes used were not unique for each password.  Therefore, once the hacker matched one hash to a password, that hash would be the same for all other identical passwords.

There is a great deal of highly sensitive information on the social network such as business deals, confidential job information, and personal conversations.

LinkedIn still doesn't know who was actually responsible for the attack.  LinkedIn is just focusing on ensuring members change their passwords and choose stronger passwords for increased security measures.  However, according to security researcher Marcus Carey, "If a website has been breached, it doesn't matter what encryption they're using because the attacker at that point controls a lot of the authentication.  It's 'game over' once the site is compromised."

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Posted in LinkedIn, Internet, Social Media, Data

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    I am in the middle of working on a school report on this topic and your post has helped me with the information I needed to complete it. Thanks.

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    I have found this article very exciting about Linkedin. Do you have any others on this topic? I am also sending it to my friend to enjoy your writing style. Thanks

  • free annual credit report on 28/09/2012 11:49pm

    Its really surprising news for me that a huge database of passwords has been on target. If hackers are able to bypass security measures then it is a big question for Linkedin reliability. Thanks

  • cheap custom stickers on 30/10/2012 6:15pm

    LinkedIn Password leak was a big issue and I think such big companies must use various layers of security to avoid such incidents, ultimately it has a negative impact on LinkedIn. Thanks

  • website on 31/10/2012 1:21pm

    LinkedIn is a big company and such issues can create big problem for them. User of LinkedIn will be much concerned about their privacy after this incident. Thanks

  • Cute Baby Gifts on 04/11/2012 1:47pm

    I am in the middle of working on a school report about security of LinkedIn and your post has helped me with the information I needed to complete it. Thanks.

  • The Springs Resort Spa on 29/11/2012 1:11pm

    Your approach to this post is unique and I think companies like LinkedIn must pay attention to this part. I am writing an article for our research paper and this post has helped me. Thanks.

  • coins los angeles on 02/12/2012 7:16pm

    Such issues can spoil reliability on companies like LinkedIn, using double layers of security can be helpful to avoid such events in future. But its an irony that sometimes more security creates an easy loophole as well. Thanks

  • CNA Classes in Georgia on 03/12/2012 6:38pm

    What's missing from the reporting on this story is that many people may have received spam emails asking them to verify their linkedin email address sent in multiple emails from multiple addresses.

  • samples of supplements on 19/12/2012 7:57am

    LinkedIn has more than 150 million users, so a 10% user will represent a large number of users. I think such companies must use some other techniques to avoid such issues.

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