LinkedIn Scraped and Faked Data (2023) data breach

Breach date: 2023-11-04. Added to this index: 2023-11-07. Accounts affected: about 20M. Domain: linkedin.com.

What happened

In November 2023, a post to a popular hacking forum alleged that millions of LinkedIn records had been scraped and leaked. On investigation, the data turned out to be a combination of legitimate data scraped from LinkedIn and email addresses constructed from impacted individuals' names.

Breach data sourced from Have I Been Pwned, used under CC BY 4.0. Additional breach metadata provided by XposedOrNot. DataExposed is an independent service and is not affiliated with or endorsed by either.

What was exposed

  • Email addresses: The email address you used to register or log in. It is the most common field in breaches because it doubles as your username on most sites.
  • Genders: The gender or sex recorded on your profile, usually picked from a list at signup, sometimes with a title such as Mr or Ms or a gender identity option beyond male and female.
  • Geographic locations: A general location recorded on your account, such as a country, state, city, postcode or region, either typed in by you or estimated from your IP address.
  • Job titles: Your role or position, such as accounts payable officer, nurse or IT administrator, recorded by professional networks, business software, event registrations and marketing lists.
  • Names: Your first name, surname and sometimes middle name or initials, as you gave them when you signed up. It appears in almost every breach because nearly every account asks for it.
  • Professional skills: The skills, certifications, tools and specialisms listed on a resume, job board or professional networking profile.
  • Social media profiles: Usernames, profile URLs or handles for social networks such as Facebook, Instagram, X, TikTok, LinkedIn or Discord, stored alongside another account.

What to do now

  1. Check whether your own address is in this dataset with the free email breach check.
  2. Review the accounts connected to this service and turn on two-factor authentication.
  3. Turn on two-factor authentication on your email account first, because it is the reset path for everything else.
  4. Treat calls and messages that quote real details about you as hostile until you verify them another way.

Frequently asked questions

What data was leaked in the LinkedIn Scraped and Faked Data (2023) breach?

The LinkedIn Scraped and Faked Data (2023) breach exposed Email addresses, Genders, Geographic locations, Job titles, Names, Professional skills, Social media profiles. About 20M accounts were affected.

Was I affected by the LinkedIn Scraped and Faked Data (2023) breach?

Run the free email breach check with the address you used on that service. It will tell you whether your address appears in this dataset.

What should I do about the LinkedIn Scraped and Faked Data (2023) breach?

Treat any message that quotes details from this breach as suspicious, turn on two-factor authentication, and consider removing your details from people-search sites if your address or phone was included.

Next steps