Report: 6M LinkedIn Passwords Stolen

Update: LinkedIn confirmed Wednesday afternoon that an unspecified number of user accounts were compromised. The company said it would contact the owners of affected accounts regarding the situation.

About 6.5 million passwords for user accounts on the business-oriented social networking site LinkedIn have been stolen, according to a report by a Norwegian technology website.

The passwords are reportedly in an encrypted format, but efforts are believed to be underway to decrypt them. According to one report, more than 300,000 of the stolen passwords have already been cracked.

LinkedIn did not immediately confirm the report, instead saying Wednesday morning that it's looking into reports of the security breach. The site has about 150 million users and is popular as a networking tool among many professionals. 

LinkedIn users should strongly consider changing their passwords as soon as possible.