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A sign is posted in front of the LinkedIn headquarters on February 11, 2011 in Mountain View, California. (Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)
Professional networking site LinkedIn and online dating service eHarmony warned its users late Wednesday that some of the account passwords were compromised. Each company is continuing its investigation.
LinkedIn and eHarmony said members that have accounts associated with the compromised passwords will no longer be able to use their passwords, LinkedIn users will receive an e-mail from instructing them to reset their passwords, although a reset link will only be sent upon user request. LinkedIn said its affected members who update their passwords and members whose passwords have not been compromised will benefit from an enhanced security system LinkedIn has put in place.
“We sincerely apologize for the inconvenience this has caused our members,” LinkedIn said in a statement. “We take the security of our members very seriously.”
The two companies declined to reveal the number of accounts that had been breached, but eHarmony said it was “a small fraction of our user base.”
On Thursday, music catalogue website Last.fm said it is also investigating the leak of some user passwords. It recommends its users to change their passwords immediately.
Yet unlike previous password breaches, the leaked LinkedIn and eHarmony passwords were encrypted, but it is possible to guess them using different technologies.
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