Fake emails from LinkedIn circulate after password breach »

Criminals have already started taking advantage of millions of stolen LinkedIn passwords that were uncovered today. Spoofed emails are being sent to LinkedIn users, phishing for personal information and redirecting traffic to Viagra-selling websites. […] This morning 6.5 million passwords were apparently leaked from the business social network. The passwords were hashed, not plain text, and uploaded to a Russian website this morning. Researchers quickly looked into whether the passwords were legitimate, and LinkedIn later confirmed they were. The company released a blog post saying, “we can confirm that some of the passwords that were compromised correspond to LinkedIn accounts.” […] Any LinkedIn user who has not yet changed their password should do so immediately.

Obviously, 6.5 million accounts is a small fraction of LinkedIn’s total 150 million user base. But do you want to take the chance that your email is not among one of those that have been compromised?!

Phishing image (Miniature fisherman standing on a laptop computer representing online email phishing scams.) via Shutterstock

In the same vein:

• Hey girl. It’s too bad my LinkedIn password was hacked. I really enjoyed logging in with “mygirlrocks.”
• “I always use different passwords for different sites, but LinkedIn is old enough, I wonder if I was so diligent back then.”
• Security warning: LinkedIn facing privacy issues on two fronts today