LinkedIn Tells Its Customers: Change Your Passwords
Associate Editor, CNBC
No customer accounts appear to have been damaged following a cyber attack on professional social networking website LinkedIn, its co-founder and executive chairman Reid Hoffman told CNBC on Friday.
On Wednesday, LinkedIn confirmed 6.5 million user passwords had been stolen.
The social network is working with the Federal Bureau of Investigation to investigate the theft of the data.
LinkedIn also said it did not know of any user accounts that had been taken over as a result of the security breach.
However, it emerged on Thursday that LinkedIn has been used as part of a “phishing” scam, with approximately 1.5 million Linkedin users contacted with fake LinkedIn emails requesting their personal information.
LinkedIn has said it would disable passwords that had been compromised, thereby forcing customers to reset them.
The company said it had sent affected members emails explaining how to change their passwords.
“The company is taking this fully seriously … As far as we can tell there hasn’t been any damage to customer accounts, but the advice we are relaying to customers is for them to change their passwords,” Hoffman told CNBC’s “WorldWide Exchange.”
LinkedIn, which has 160 million users in 200 countries, listed on the stock market last year and has since seen its share price more than double to $93 per share.
Citigroup recently also updated its guidance to investors to “buy” from “neutral.”
