I’m sure most of you have heard that LinkedIn has recently been breached and many people’s passwords have likely been compromised and emails have been stolen.
What does LinkedIn Security for you?
First and foremost, CHANGE YOUR PASSWORDS, and for goodness sake use a different password than you did for anything else. If you’re like me and you have way too many passwords, consider a password manager. I’ve been using KeePass (free download) for years and haven’t run into any trouble, and there are more out there if you do your research. I find KeePass extremely easy, only takes a moment to download and you only need to remember ONE PASSWORD.
LinkedIn Security Breach
Wednesday’s LinkedIn breach means that they have people’s passwords – which, BTW, equates to 117 million passwords only because too many people USE THE SAME PASSWORDS FOR EVERYTHING – DON’T DO THAT! If you used the same password for your bank account that you did for LinkedIn, hackers now have access to your bank account. Yup, time to sit up and pay attention folks.
Also Be Cautious of Your Email
Second, be watchful of your email – you might notice a little extra spam because they not only plan on using your email but they’re also selling it now on a black market called “The Real Deal,” according to tech news site Motherboard.
CNN has a good story on this situation and also recommends adding a two-factor authentication that requires a text message every time you sign in from a new computer. Google offers an authenticator that I use and it works nicely.
What’s happened to LinkedIn (which actually stems from 2012) is not cool, however, it does remind us the importance of online security.