LinkedIn Security Breach - Were You Hacked?
Important information for anyone who has a linkedin account. Has your account been hacked? Don't forget to change up your passwords to protect your accounts.
There was a buzz going around recently that LinkedIn security had been breached when a Russian hacker claimed to have stolen almost 6.5 million passwords. To prove his feat, he posted just the passwords (no usernames) online. On Wednesday, LinkedIn confirmed that some of their users' accounts were indeed compromised when the passwords posted matched LinkedIn accounts. How do you know if you were one of the 6.5 million accounts hacked?
LinkedIn has temporarily taken down access to any accounts that have passwords on the compromised list. When you try to log in to your account, you will find that your password doesn't work. Don't worry, though. This is one of the safety measures that LinkedIn has put in place to help remedy the situation. You will receive an email from LinkedIn telling you how to set up a new password. Once you follow the steps in that email, you will receive a second email telling you how to proceed.
A good rule of thumb to follow is to NEVER click on a link provided in an email, even when it looks like it comes from a trusted source. Instead, log in to the official URL of the site in question, in this case, http://www.linkedin.com. This is not exclusive to LinkedIn, however. Any email requesting that you click on a link to log in to your account should be met with skepticism. ALWAYS open a new window on your browser and log in to the official URL instead of clicking on the link provided.
Since news of the hacking of 6.5 million LinkedIn accounts surfaced on Wednesday, a new report has surfaced saying that 1.5 million passwords were stolen from the online dating site eHarmony by the same Russian hacker. This would be a good time to go into any of your online accounts, including LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, your website, blog, online banking or credit card accounts to change your passwords.
HOW TO CREATE A STRONG PASSWORD
Switch it up - Don't use the same password for every online account. Once a hacker obtains the password from one account, he can easily access your other online accounts if you use the same password each time.
- Customize - Take a word, phrase or song you like and change some letters to characters. For example, use @ for "a", 1 or ! for "i" or "l", 3 for "e", etc. Instead of using a whole phrase or song title, you can also use the first letter of each word, choosing characters that look similar in place of some letters. Also use upper AND lower case letters. The phrase "I hate hackers" becomes "!H8hcKr$". The more unique you make it, the better.
- Right length - Make your password at least 8-10 characters long. Of course, the longer the password, the harder it is for hackers to breach.
- Keep it to yourself - Do not share your password with anyone. Even banks won't ask for your account password when you call them.
Wednesday's announcement that LinkedIn security had been breached as well as the subsequent hacking of eHarmony accounts serves as a poignant reminder that we need to be careful with our online accounts. That goes for ALL online accounts. Take a few moments to create and update your online accounts now. It's never a bad idea to be vigiliant of your online security.
Originally posted on my Real Estate Support blog here: http://real-estate-support.com/2012/06/linkedin-security-breach/.
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