The BBC just reported a possible hack to millions of LinkedIn accounts: http://www.bbc.com/news/technology-36320322. In case you got the message and are worried, here is what to do about it:
- Change your LinkedIn password
I'm not one to panic, but it is probably a good idea to change passwords every once in a while. Here's a little video on how to change your password on LinkedIn: http://www.screencast.com/t/SwWi1AVev
Pro-Tip: for great passwords, weave two words together by skipping letters. Here's an example of weaving my first and last names together: instead of ADAM singer, it would be AsDiAnMger. Every other letter in "ADAM" becomes a letter from "singer".
A s D i A n M g e r
- Take advantage of LinkedIn's two-step verification.
More about that here: https://www.linkedin.com/help/linkedin/answer/544/turning-two-step-verification-on-and-off?lang=en. Personally, I find two step verification rather inconvenient, but it is more secure. Quick definition of two-step verification:
- You try to log on to your account on LinkedIn with your username and password
- LinkedIn won't let you log in and asks to send a special pass code to your phone or email account
- You give it permission to send
- You check your phone or email account
- You type the code back into the website in order to log in
- Now you can log in
- Might want to change your password on other online accounts, especially if you tend to use one general password for most of your accounts.
If you're like me and you have about a gazillion different online accounts, this may be next to impossible. There are some good services out there for storing passwords. I use Bento by FileMaker, but I think there are probably better ways. If you know of some, feel free to comment below.
- Report suspicious activities to LinkedIn.
Review your active sessions and report any suspicious anomalies to LinkedIn via this link.
Photo Credit: picture at the top of this page of the Amalfi Coast by Paolo Costa Baldi. License: GFDL/CC-BY-SA 3.0, CC BY 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=18896870