What Does the LinkedIn Security Leak Mean for You?
If you have a LinkedIn account, and you are worried about your secure information, here is what to do. First get up to date on what actually happened. You can find many stories here:
- http://www.theverge.com/2012/6/6/3068652/linkedin-member-passwords-stolen
- http://www.digitaltrends.com/web/how-to-check-if-your-linkedin-or-eharmony-password-was-leaked/
- http://www.zdnet.com/blog/btl/646-million-linkedin-passwords-leaked-online/79290
- http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/06/06/linkedin-passwords-leaked_n_1574059.html
- http://www.forbes.com/sites/kashmirhill/2012/06/07/with-linkedin-and-eharmony-passwords-exposed-make-sure-youre-not-using-same-password-elsewhere/
” ~ From LinkedIn
We want to provide you with an update on this morning’s reports of stolen passwords. We can confirm that some of the passwords that were compromised correspond to LinkedIn accounts. We are continuing to investigate this situation and here is what we are pursuing as far as next steps for the compromised accounts:
1. Members that have accounts associated with the compromised passwords will notice that their LinkedIn account password is no longer valid.
2. These members will also receive an email from LinkedIn with instructions on how to reset their passwords. There will not be any links in these emails. For security reasons, you should never change your password on any website by following a link in an email.
3. These affected members will receive a second email from our Customer Support team providing a bit more context on this situation and why they are being asked to change their passwords.
It is worth noting that the affected members who update their passwords and members whose passwords have not been compromised benefit from the enhanced security we just recently put in place, which includes hashing and salting of our current password databases. We sincerely apologize for the inconvenience this has caused our members. We take the security of our members very seriously, if you haven’t read it already it is worth checking out my earlier blog post today about updating your password other account security best practices.
IF YOU ARE A LINKEDIN MEMBER I SUGGEST YOU CHANGE YOUR PASSWORD IMMEDIATELY.
To do so, follow these simple instructions.
- Go to www.linkedin.com
- Sign in to LinkedIn with your Username and Password
- Click on your name at the top of the page
- Choose settings from the dropdown menu
- Choose change password under email and password.
- follow the instructions for changing the password.
