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Hacked LinkedIn accounts advertised for sale

May 23, 2016

A hacker is attempting to sell 117 million LinkedIn accounts that were first sourced from a 2012 breach that originally estimated 6.5 million user passwords were compromised, the Los Angeles Times reports.

LinkedIn is now invalidating some passwords.

The hacker, nicknamed Peace, is attempting to sell the 117 million LinkedIn users' emails and passwords on the dark web.

According to Motherboard, Peace is selling the data on the dark web illegal marketplace The Real Deal for 5 bitcoin (around $2,200), according to Motherboard. The paid hacked data search engine LeakedSource also claims to have obtained the data. Both Peace and the one of the people behind LeakedSource said that there are 167 million accounts in the hacked database. Of those, around 117 million have both emails and encrypted passwords.

LinkedIn confirmed the breach exceeded the original 2012 estimate and now exceeds 100 million.

“We have begun to invalidate passwords for all accounts created prior to the 2012 breach​ that haven’t update​d​ their password since that breach,” LinkedIn stated in a blog post. “We will be letting individual members know​ ​if they need to reset their password. However, regularly changing your password is always a good idea an​d​ you don’t have to wait for the notification.”