Social network LinkedIn plays down lawsuit brought in the wake of online password leak
THE SOCIAL networking site LinkedIn has talked down a $5m (£3.18m) lawsuit after Russian hackers leaked members’ passwords.
Earlier this month, 6.5m passwords for the website were hacked, and the lawsuit claims LinkedIn cut corners on security measures.
The network is the largest professional one of its kind and holds the private information of over 150m top business figures.
Katie Szpyrka, a member of LinkedIn, has decided to go to court against the social network. Filing a $5m lawsuit against the media giant, she has based her attack on the grounds of a breach of contract after Russian hackers undermined LinkedIn’s 100 per cent privacy policy.
LinkedIn has said that there was no damage caused to members and that it disabled the “at risk” accounts when they learned of the theft.
“It appears that these threats are driven by lawyers looking to take advantage of the situation,” said Darain Faraz, a spokesman for LinkedIn.