Social networking site LinkedIn is facing a lawsuit for $5 million due to a security breach that caused passwords of over 6 million users to be stolen.
The lawsuit has been filed by Katie Szpryka, of Illinois a Premium LinkedIn member who claims that the network did not do enough to “safeguard its users’ digitally stored and personally identifiable information, including e-mail addresses, passwords, and login credentials”.
The Chicago-based law firm, Edelson McGuire, that represents Szpryka says that LinkedIn had “deceived customers” as their security policy was “in clear contradiction of accepted industry standards for database security”
While confirming the lawsuit, a spokeswoman for LinkedIn said that the lawsuit was without merit and has been brought about by lawyers who wish to take advantage of the situation.
The spokeswoman further said, “We don’t believe any member account has been compromised as a result of the password theft, and we have no reason to believe that any LinkedIn member has been injured.”
Source: http://www.theinquirer.net/inquirer/news/2186071/linkedin-class-action-lawsuit-lost-passwords
The hacker had posted a link to over 6.5 million passwords on a hacking website.
LinkedIn had sent emails to affected members, asking them to change their passwords. However LinkedIn has been criticized for not acting soon enough.
Experts feel that it may be difficult to prove the charges as in such cases it is important to prove that they were actually harmed by the breach.
