Hacker leaks 35 million LinkedIn user records
The database comprises mainly publicly available information from LinkedIn profiles, such as full name and profile bios, email IDs, etc.
A hacker operating under the alias of USDoD has leaked a LinkedIn database containing the personal information of over 35 million users in the dark web’s Breach Forums. The database, which the hacker confirmed, was obtained through web scraping. It was leaked in two parts- one with 5 million user records and the other with 35 million records.
In terms of data content, the database comprises mainly publicly available information from LinkedIn profiles, such as full name and profile bios, email IDs, etc. However, no passwords were included in the leaked data.
After analysing 5 million accounts from the leaked dataset, Troy Hunt of HaveIBeenPwned concluded that the leaked data may have been collected from various sources. He added that while some of the data might be anecdotal or partially fabricated, the names of people, companies, domains, and many email addresses were real.
It may be mentioned that the hacker USDoD leaked data from the FBI’s security platform InfraGard last year and disclosed the personal details of 87,000 of its members.