On March 5, 2013 the California District Court1
dismissed a proposed class action against LinkedIn arising from
hackers infiltrating LinkedIn’s computer system.
In June 2012 hackers infiltrated LinkedIn's computer system
and posted approximately 6.5 million user passwords on the
Internet. Following the breach, LinkedIn increased the security of
its password encryption method from a "hashed" format, in
which the passwords were converted into an unreadable encrypted
format, by adding the additional step of "salting", in
which random values were added to the passwords before they were
"hashed". A class action was filed in November 2012 on
behalf of LinkedIn's Premium Account holders, on the grounds
that they had paid a fee for LinkedIn services which included a
promise by LinkedIn that their information would be secured in
accordance with industry standard protocols and technology. The
Plaintiffs based their claim in contract and in negligence.
LinkedIn filed a
