Browser add-on can expose LinkedIn email addresses

Security breaches in the digital world seem to be all too common these days, and such malicious activity does seem to have picked up in pace in recent times, too. Thankfully, what has happened with the email addresses of LinkedIn users this time around IS NOT a security breach, but rather, Sell Hack, a free extension for the Chrome browser, will rely on an algorithm in order for it to “guess” members’ email addresses. 

The email addresses of LinkedIn users can easily be exposed via a web browser add-on tool, it has been revealed. Sell Hack is available as a free extension to the Chrome browser that, once installed, will pop up a “hack in” button on LinkedIn profiles. Users can then find the email address associated with the account even if they are not connected. LinkedIn said it was taking legal action over the plug-in and advised users to uninstall it. Sell Hack insisted that the the tool was created for marketing professionals and that all data is publicly available. On its website it said: “We just do the heavy lifting and complicated computing to save you time, We aren’t doing anything malicious to LinkedIn.”