LinkedIn hits 60 million global users

The popularity of professional social networking site LinkedIn reached new heights yesterday when the firm announced its 60 millionth member.

LinkedIn used a brief update on Twitter to publicise the news, saying that the newest addition to its ranks is a user in The Netherlands.

The site has been growing at a greater rate than usual recently, adding five million members since December and reaching the three million milestone in the UK in November.

In the past year LinkedIn has introduced a redesigned site and update to its iPhone application, as well as announcing closer integration with Microsoft Outlook and Lotus software in an attempt to be more relevant to business users.

However, the site was criticised last week by security vendor Sophos, which claimed in its annual Security Threat Report that LinkedIn is increasingly being used by hackers to mine corporate information for targeted attacks.

"You can effectively get the corporate directory of an organisation, and even who its newest recruits are," said Sophos senior technology consultant Graham Cluley.

"I could forge an email claiming to come from HR and send it to those new recruits. There's a real danger there."