LinkedIn data breach

Risk level: Medium 40/100

What happened

In May 2016, LinkedIn had 164 million email addresses and passwords exposed. Originally hacked in 2012, the data remained out of sight until being offered for sale on a dark market site 4 years later. The passwords were stored as SHA1 hashes without salt.

Breach date: 5 May 2012
Date added: 21 May 2016
Compromised accounts: 164,611,595
Domain: linkedin.com

Compromised data

Email addresses
Passwords

Breach attributes

Verified

Recommended steps if you were in the LinkedIn breach:

Security remediation checklist

Work through these steps, most urgent first:

Change the password on every affected site immediately, and anywhere you reused it.
Sign out of all sessions and revoke app passwords, API keys and connected apps.
Turn on two-factor authentication (authenticator app or security key) wherever it is offered.
Use a unique password for every site so one breach cannot unlock other accounts.
Use a password manager to generate and store strong, unique passwords.
Expect targeted phishing emails that mention this breach. Do not click unexpected links.
Keep an eye on your accounts for logins or changes you do not recognise.
Subscribe to breach alerts so you hear about future breaches quickly.