Massive LinkedIn Data Leak Exposes 2.5 Million Users' Personal and Professional Information

Company Overview

• Company Name: LinkedIn
• Industry: Social Networking, Professional Networking
• Founded: 2003
• Headquarters: Sunnyvale, California, USA
• User Base: Over 930 million users globally (as of 2023)

LinkedIn, a professional networking platform owned by Microsoft, connects professionals across the globe, offering services for job searching, networking, and professional development.

Breach Details

• Date of Breach Announcement: November 4, 2023
• Data Compromised:
  • 2.5 million records (partial database)
  • Formats: CSV
• Year of Data: 2023
• Source: Data allegedly scrapped from LinkedIn
• Leak Platform: BreachForums

Summary: A hacker under the alias "USDoD" posted a partial LinkedIn database on a popular hacking forum, BreachForums. The post claims that the dataset contains 2.5 million records in CSV format, which include a variety of LinkedIn profile data points.

• Data Fields Mentioned:
  • Profile identifiers such as PROFILE_KEY, PROFILE_USERNAMES, and PROFILE_LINKEDIN_ID.
  • Personal details like PROFILE_FIRST_NAME, PROFILE_LAST_NAME, PROFILE_EMAILS, and PROFILE_PHONES.
  • Professional information including PROFILE_POSITION_TITLE, PROFILE_COMPANY_NAME, PROFILE_SKILLS, and PROFILE_INDUSTRY_NAME.
  • Engagement metrics and platform usage data such as PROFILE_SALES_NAVIGATOR_ID, PROFILE_AUTOPILOT_MAIL_CLICKED_COUNT, and PROFILE_HUBSPOT_IDS.

Note: The poster highlighted that this database includes data on government officials and other high-profile individuals.

Threat Actor Profile

• Alias: USDoD
• Forum Activity:
  • Member since July 2023
  • 113 posts, 33 threads
  • Reputation: 881
• Previous Activities: The hacker mentioned having access to a similar dataset from Twitter. This indicates a pattern of scraping or acquiring data from social platforms.