LinkedIn denies data breach that reportedly affected 700 million users

• LinkedIn denies data breach of 700 million users
• LinkedIn claims that data was scraped from the platform
• A hacker advertises to sell the data by sharing sample data of 1 million users

LinkedIn, the professional networking platform, said its users trust LinkedIn with their data while denying reports of an alleged data breach that could put over 700 million users in jeopardy. LinkedIn released a statement on its website, clarifying that the alleged data breach didn’t happen and no user data was at risk.

“Our initial investigation has found that this data was scraped from LinkedIn and other various websites and includes the same data reported earlier this year in our April 2021 scraping update,” LinkedIn said in the statement. The company added that the members trust LinkedIn with their data and any misuse of user’s data violates its policies.

According to a report by RestorePrivacy earlier this week, a hacker put out private data of 700 million LinkedIn users for sale on a popular hacking forum. The hacker shared the sample data of 1 million users that contained sensitive information like email addresses, full names, phone numbers, physical addresses, geolocation records, LinkedIn username and profile URL, personal and professional experience/background, genders, and other social media handles.

As per the publication, the data seems to be authentic and relates to real users. The hacker reportedly said that the data was acquired by exploiting the LinkedIn API.

This privacy breach comes within three months of another data leak from LinkedIn in April. While LinkedIn claims that the scraped data includes the same data as reported in April, this alleged breach would put about 92% of LinkedIn’s 756 million users at risk. Cybercriminals could use the data to access other accounts or create detailed profiles of potential victims.

However, LinkedIn in the statement assured its users, saying that when anyone tries to take member data and use it for purposes LinkedIn and our members haven’t agreed to, we work to stop them and hold them accountable.

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