The LinkedIn data scrapping
The aftermath of LinkedIn data leak of 500 Million Users
Background
Early April 2021, LinkedIn officially confirmed that data of around 500 Million of its users were scrapped and put for sale. Here is the official communique from LinkedIn [1].
What happened afterwards ?
- LinkedIn updated its Terms and User Agreement to include some ‘Dont’s’ in the usage policy which include use of plugins/scripts/software that can be used to scrape data from its portal. [2]
What data is leaked ?
- LinkedIn IDs
- Full names
- Professional titles
- Addresses
- Phone numbers
- Gender
- Links to social media profiles
Does Scrapping count as data breach ?
With the data leaks from portals like LinkedIn and Facebook being more common, the question of whether scraping is to be classified as a data-breach is getting more attention and focus from the security community.
The social platforms have also been reluctant in classifying acts of data scraping as instances of “data breaches” since these information is available in public domain.
It also points a big question on the role of these portals in ensuring preventive action taken from their end to restrict activities like data scraping.
Read about the Facebook data scraping here —
Additional Links
[1] “An update on report of scraped data” — From LinkedIn
https://news.linkedin.com/2021/april/an-update-from-linkedin
[2] LinkedIn’s Updated usage policy and User Agreement
https://www.linkedin.com/help/linkedin/answer/56347/prohibited-software-and-extensions
