'Hacked' LinkedIn faces $5 mn class action suit

BANGALORE, INDIA: Professional networking website, LinkedIn, is facing a class action suit that allegedly allowed hackers to steal 6.46 passwords.

The charge by a lady from Illinois, Katie Szpyrka, is that it owing to LinkedIn's violation of its own privacy policies and user agreements, it was made possible.

"An Illinois woman... is spearheading a class action lawsuit against the business-networking site in wake of the recent loss to hackers of private data," ZDNet reports.

About a fortnight ago, LinkedIn reported that some hackers from Russia had stolen nearly 6.5 million passwords, less than 5 per cent of its user base.

"Szpyrka, who filed the suit in United State District Court in the Northern District of California, is demanding a jury trial on grounds including breach of contract and negligence," said the report by ZDNet. The suit claims that damages are in excess of $5 million.

Szpyrka is a registered LinkedIn account holder since 2010 and she has claimed that the network 'failed to properly safeguard its users' digitally stored personally identifiable information including e-mail addresses, passwords, and login credentials', said the report.

She has also specified that the users in the class action group include individuals and entities in the United States, who had a LinkedIn account on or before June 6, 2012, including those who paid for an upgraded account.

In the suit, Szpyrka, who pays $26.95 per month for a premium LinkedIn account, says LinkedIn's privacy policy promises users that all the information they provide will be protected with industry standards and technology, according to the report.