Password information for 6.5m members of business social network LinkedIn have been leaked, according to a news report.
Itallian blog Dagens IT reports that Russian hackers supposedly used crowd-sourcing to help in breaking the encryption on the business-based social network.
The hackers have posted a file containing encrypted passwords onto a Russian web forum. They have invited the hacking community to help with decryption.
LinkedIn, which has over 150 million users, has not released a formal statement, but tweeted: “Our team is currently looking into reports.”
It’s been a tough week for LinkedIn, with reports that the company’s new mobile calendar app transmitted full meeting notes and other data from the iOS agenda in plain text, an obvious security blip.
The company swiftly moved to update its apps, minimizing the information sent to its servers, and introducing more SSL encryption. The updated Android app has already hit the Play Market, with the amended iOS version waiting for Apple’s own approval.
