LinkedIn has been hit by two major data incidents — a 2012 breach that exposed 164 million accounts and a 2021 scraping event that collected 700 million user profiles. If you are wondering whether LinkedIn is still safe to use in 2026, the short answer is yes — but only if you take a few simple steps to protect your account.
What happened in the LinkedIn data breaches?
LinkedIn has had two significant security incidents that put user data at risk.
The 2012 breach was the more serious one. Hackers broke into LinkedIn’s systems and stole a database containing 164 million email addresses and passwords. The passwords were hashed using SHA-1 — an outdated method — and were not salted. Salting adds random characters to each password before hashing, making them much harder to crack. Without salting, attackers were able to crack millions of these passwords relatively quickly.
The breach was initially thought to affect only 6.5 million accounts when it was first reported. But in 2016, the full database of 164 million records appeared for sale on dark web marketplaces, revealing the true scale of the incident.
The 2021 scraping incident was different. An attacker used automated tools to collect publicly available profile information — names, email addresses, phone numbers, job titles, and workplace details — for approximately 700 million LinkedIn users. While LinkedIn argued this was not technically a breach because no private data or passwords were stolen, the scraped data still ended up on underground forums and can be used for targeted phishing and social engineering attacks.
Is LinkedIn safe to use now?
Yes, LinkedIn is safe to use in 2026. The platform has made substantial security improvements since these incidents.
LinkedIn is now owned by Microsoft, which brings significant cybersecurity resources and expertise. The company has moved from the weak SHA-1 password hashing that caused so much damage in 2012 to bcrypt — a much stronger method that is specifically designed to resist cracking attempts. Bcrypt is currently considered industry standard for password storage.
LinkedIn has also added mandatory two-factor authentication options, improved its anti-scraping defenses, and built enhanced monitoring systems that detect suspicious activity on accounts. The platform now actively warns users about suspicious login attempts and unrecognized devices.
That said, no online platform is ever 100 percent safe. The improvements LinkedIn has made dramatically reduce the risk, but you still need to do your part to protect your account.
What did LinkedIn do to fix the security problems?
After the breaches, LinkedIn took several concrete steps:
- Upgraded password hashing from SHA-1 to bcrypt with proper salting, making stored passwords far more resistant to cracking
- Forced password resets for all accounts affected by the 2012 breach
- Added two-factor authentication so that even if someone has your password, they cannot log in without a second verification step
- Improved anti-scraping technology to detect and block automated data collection tools
- Enhanced account monitoring that flags unusual login activity and notifies you of unrecognized devices
- Introduced Security Checkup tools that walk you through reviewing your account settings and connected apps
These changes address the specific weaknesses that were exploited in both incidents.
How to check if your LinkedIn data was exposed
The fastest way to find out if your email was part of the LinkedIn breach is to check it against known breach databases.
Check your email now with EmailLeaked — it scans billions of records from known breaches and tells you instantly if your email appeared in the LinkedIn breach or any other incident. It is free and takes less than 10 seconds.
If your email shows up, do not panic. It does not mean someone has accessed your LinkedIn account — it means your data was part of the stolen database. Follow the steps below to lock things down.
5 steps to secure your LinkedIn account right now
Even if you were not affected by the breaches, these steps are worth doing to keep your account safe going forward.
Step 1: Change your password. Go to LinkedIn Settings, then Sign In and Security, then Change Password. Use a password that is at least 16 characters long, completely unique to LinkedIn, and not based on any personal information. A password manager makes this easy.
Step 2: Turn on two-factor authentication. In the same Sign In and Security section, enable two-step verification. Use an authenticator app like Google Authenticator or Microsoft Authenticator rather than SMS — it is more secure. Learn more about how two-factor authentication works.
Step 3: Review your active sessions. In Settings, check “Where you are signed in” and sign out of any devices or locations you do not recognize. This kicks out anyone who might have gained unauthorized access.
Step 4: Limit your public profile information. Go to Settings, then Visibility, and review what information is visible to people who are not connected with you. The less personal data visible on your public profile, the less useful it is to attackers who might try to use it for phishing or social engineering.
Step 5: Check your connected apps. Under Settings, review “Permitted Services” and remove any third-party apps you no longer use or do not recognize. Each connected app is a potential entry point if that app itself gets breached.
The bottom line
LinkedIn’s data breaches were serious, particularly the 2012 incident where poorly protected passwords were exposed. But the company has made meaningful security upgrades since then. With bcrypt password hashing, two-factor authentication, and improved monitoring, LinkedIn in 2026 is a fundamentally more secure platform than it was in 2012.
The real risk today is not LinkedIn’s security — it is whether you are still using the same password you had back in 2012, or whether that password is being reused on other sites. Check if your email was exposed, update your password, turn on two-factor authentication, and you can continue using LinkedIn with confidence.
If you want to understand more about how breaches work and what happens to stolen data, read our guide on what is a data breach and what happens to stolen data after a breach.