The data set reportedly contains user IDs, e-mail addresses and SHA1 password hashes — and the asking price is BTC 5, which roughly converts to about USD 2,200 based on current market rates.
It is believed that this data was stolen during a major breach of LinkedIn’s security that took place in 2012. At the time, only 6.5 million passwords were released to the internet, but the administrators of security breach indexer LeakedSource have stated in a blog post that there is evidence that this sale is using records accessed in that attack.
Of the 167 million accounts affected, some 117 million contain hashed passwords; the rest are thought to have been set up via a Facebook login, or another similar process. However, the protection applied to these passwords leaves a lot to be desired.
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