LinkedIn asks users to change password

Acknowledging that passwords of some of its members were 'compromised', professional networking site LinkedIn has asked its users to change it to help protect their account security and privacy.

Reports had suggested that about 6.4 million LinkedIn passwords were hacked and posted on the Web and LinkedIn was investigating the matter.

In its official blog, LinkedIn Director Vicente Silveira said: "We can confirm that some of the passwords that were compromised correspond to LinkedIn accounts. We are continuing to investigate this situation."

He added that members with accounts associated with the compromised passwords will notice that their LinkedIn account password is no longer valid and also receive an email from the company with instructions on how to reset it.

"We sincerely apologise for the inconvenience this has caused our members. We take the security of our members very seriously," Silveira said.

LinkedIn claims to operate the world's largest professional network with 161 million members in 200 countries.