A group of hackers is selling on the Internet about 2 million user data from the social network LinkedIn, but this data will in turn be provided as proof of a larger file containing up to 500 million records from this social network.
This Wednesday researchers they discovered that close to 500 million data from users of the social network LinkedIn They were leaked on the dark web, where a sample batch with 2 million data is being offered for a value of 2 dollars. The hackers claim that they contain important data of the users of this platform, such as the users' full names, social network identification, email addresses, telephone numbers, as well as work-related data and even links to profiles. of users to other social networks such as Facebook.
Although researchers have not yet determined whether the data hackers claim to have is updated data or the product of a previous network hack, researchers point out that regardless of the situation, users should change their passwords and enable user authentication. two-factor (2FA) to protect access to your accounts.
The LinkedIn data leak occurs a few days after the massive data leak of Facebook, which left close to 533 million users affected, due to a security vulnerability in the social media platform that leaked the records for free.
The cybersecurity researcher who discovered the Facebook flaw called it an act of “absolute negligence” on the part of the company, which does not seem to care about its handling of the data of its billions of users around the world.
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$2 in forum credits
As mentioned, hackers are providing proof for those interested in acquiring the leaked data of LinkedIn users to verify the veracity of this information. According to the researchers, the evidence is a file that contains 2 million of the leaked data, where the records that the hackers claim to have can be verified. Although it has not yet been revealed how much the hackers will offer the data with the 500 million records, it seems that they will do so with a 4-digit amount in bitcoins. Meanwhile, the file with the 2 million data is sold for $2 in credits within the dark net forum.
LinkedIn is a social network of professional profiles owned by the technology giant Microsoft. This platform is aimed at creating professional profiles for business and corporate use. Network users create their profiles within this platform to publicize their work profiles and freely reveal their work experience, skills, abilities and more to companies and companies that are looking for professionals to fill their vacancies.
Phishing and malicious campaigns
Researchers who are analyzing the situation that occurred with LinkedIn point out that the hackers used the scraping technique to extract information from the website. Fernando Lagos placeholder image, cybersecurity expert at NIVEL4 Cybersecurity, pointed out that although in quantity this leak is just as serious as the one that recently occurred on Facebook, in terms of the type of information and extraction method used, it is not.
Facebook records were leaked due to a security vulnerability present on the platform since 2019.
It is worth remembering that after data leaks like these occur, affected users tend to be victims of a wave of phishing attacks and other malicious campaigns, so you should be alert not to open or click on links sent through Suspicious emails, whose sender is unknown. Extreme caution should also be taken with malicious campaigns carried out through telephone numbers, which seek to intimidate affected users to request payments and so on.
One of the recent victims of a massive data breach was Ledger, one of the most important hardware wallet manufacturers in the industry. This situation exposed the data of more than 1 million users, unleashing a wave of phishing and extortion attacks, where victims received up to 15 emails and text messages daily, with constant threats from cybercriminals to intimidate them and make them hand over part of its holdings in Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies, .
Continue reading: Ledger prepares a new data security system
