Obviously the list was filtered to eliminate duplicates. It contains only what the hackers wanted it to contain. So, why does nobody mentions that it is HIGHLY LIKELY that the user names associated with the passwords (which are actually mainly e-mail addresses for LinkedIn) are also in the possession of the hackers. So, if I would be the hacker - strip usernames, strip duplicate hashes, post list of unique hashes to let others do the CPU intensive cracking, retrieve cracked passwords, match with usernames (e-mail address), check same password on other accounts (first on the e-mail account, then google the e-mail address on forums or try on the services that interests me and say "forgot password, send it again to this e-mail address - thank you telling me that this e-mail has indeed an account with you..."), monetize somehow the data. As a user that implies - IMMEDIATELY change your password for the e-mail address used to login at LinkedIn (if it was the same password); verify if settings of this e-mail account have changed (like an additional unknown address added to allow retrieval of the password, DUH), try to remember where you use the same address either as login or to recover credentials, try to remember where you used the same password, google you e-mail address to help you remember; change passwords; consider abandoning the e-mail address if it is not your primary one,... Also - did the amount of SPAM that you receive on the e-mail address used to login at LinkedIn suddenly increased, while SPAM remained constant on a similar mail account not connected to LinkedIn ? Maybe someone just sold your e-mail address, so the LinkedIn break may affect you even if the password is not in the list. Bottom line is - LinkedIn approach appears to be: We have no proof that this particular account was hacked since password hash is not in the list - let's not overreact and let'sassume it is not hacked even if we don't have a clue what was actually hacked. I'm not to judge if it is the best approach for the business, but sure as hell I don't like this approach as a user.