LinkedIn Hit With $5M Suit Over Hack

LinkedIn's security breach—the one in which some 6 million passwords were stolen and posted online—is about to get more problematic for the company. An Illinois woman has filed a $5 million lawsuit against the networking site, and is seeking class-action status for it, Reuters reports. LinkedIn "deceived customers" by having a lackluster security policy "in clear contradiction of accepted industry standards," the woman's lawyer says in court papers. But LinkedIn says the suit is frivolous, and driven "by lawyers looking to take advantage of the situation."

"No member account has been breached as a result of the incident, and we have no reason to believe that any LinkedIn member has been injured," a spokesperson said. That's key, because plaintiffs would have to show in court that they were harmed by the breach, legal experts say. "In consumer security class actions, the demonstration of harm is very challenging," one lawyer said. (More LinkedIn stories.)