LinkedIn 2012 Data Breach May Have Hit Over 100 Million

A 2012 data breach at LinkedIn Corp. may have been far worse than previously known.

The professional social network said Wednesday it recently learned that email and password combinations for more than 100 million LinkedIn members had been released.

Technology news site Motherboard said hackers were trying to sell information for 117 million LinkedIn accounts on Internet marketplaces.

LinkedIn said it would invalidate passwords for accounts where the password hadn't been changed since the 2012 breach. At the time, reports said 6.5 million accounts were affected.

"Yesterday, we became aware of an additional set of data that had just been released that claims to be email and hashed password combinations of more than 100 million LinkedIn members from that same theft in 2012," LinkedIn said Wednesday. "We have no indication that this is as a result of a new security breach."

The company urged users to change their passwords frequently. It said it would consider legal action if hackers fail to stop the sale of data.

Write to Deepa Seetharaman at Deepa.Seetharaman@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

May 19, 2016 13:15 ET (17:15 GMT)

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