Have a LinkedIn account? Better change your password!

Last week, popular business social networking site LinkedIn announced that over 100 million user passwords were compromised. This was followed by a strong advisory to users about changing their passwords.

A brief flashback >>
A few years ago, in 2012, LinkedIn was hit by a major hack that caused a breach of about 6.5 million accounts. The present scenario, however, says otherwise. Apparently, hackers managed to steal the data of not 6.5 million accounts but a whopping 165 million. So, it is safe to assume that this stolen data contains your own LinkedIn email ID and password. And we all know what hackers can do with stolen data.

So, what’s the next step for those who have LinkedIn accounts?
The obvious, of course – change your LinkedIn password immediately, if you haven’t yet done so.

• Sign in to www.linkedin.com
• Hover on your profile photo (top-right corner)
• Go to Privacy & Settings. Click Manage
• Under ‘Account’ click Basics and then click Change Password

Remember, a good password is one that has a mix of uppercase and lowercase letters, numbers, and special characters. Just like this one – Tamarind@#123!

Once you have changed your password, do turn ON the 2-step verification. It ensures that no one except you has access to your account, even if a hacker has compromised your password.

To do this, on the same screen:
• Go to ‘Privacy’
• Click Security
• Click Two-step verification
• Provide your phone number and follow instructions

Now, the next time you login in, you will be asked to enter the security code sent to your cell phone before you can proceed further. That’s double security!

IMPORTANT
In case you have used your LinkedIn account’s password elsewhere, please change those too. And always, always keep different passwords for different accounts.

Share this post with your friends and acquaintances on Facebook and Twitter, so that they can too have their passwords changed. Stay safe!