LinkedIn Passwords Hacked – Change your password NOW!
If you have a LinkedIn account, I strongly encourage you to change your password immediately. If you are using this same password on any other site, it is very wise to change that one as well. I also read the eHarmony was hacked, so if you have an account there, change that password, too.
First, a very brief “lecture” on passwords… hackers know what they’re doing. Please do not EVER use a password that is a “no-duh” password, like your dogs name and a birthday combined together. All someone has to do is bounce around on Facebook, your blog, or the like, see you have 3 kids, 2 dogs and one cat. Somewhere I’m sure you’ve shared their names. Eventually, it all fits together and you are hacked. And for Horus’s sake, NEVER use the same password on more than one account.
I use an OSI Certified Open Source software called “Keypass.” Every single password I use is generated via Keypass and is very long and is a bunch of gobbledy-goo. A mixture of whatever is on a keyboard. My password to get INTO my keypass is actually a very long sentence – one I’ll never forget, and it must be exact. Capital letters, punctuation, etc. I keep my Keypass on a thumbdrive to carry with me, and I also make back up copies and store on other drives just in case my computer crashes. Now that I’m used to this, it is actually easier than the old way where I had a couple different passwords that meant something to me – but I could never remember which went to what. But now, when I log on, I open up my Keypass and there they are. Gobbledy-goo. It does take some dedication to to get into a solid routine, but I do not vary from it now. Even if I’m on the phone with GoDaddy setting up something-or-other and I need to create a login and password – I make the person on the other end wait while I create a new account in my keypass and enter in all the details, including the URL and everything else pertinent. One GoDaddy guy chuckled and said he didn’t mind at all and wishes everyone would since they get a gazillion calls a day requesting a new password because the current one has been forgotten.
Okay, now on to the LinkedIn hack details. I cannot confirm the validity of this info, but hey… it’s a password. Doesn’t cost a dime and only takes a minute to change it.
“6.5 million encrypted LinkedIn passwords have leaked, reports Norwegian IT site Dagens IT (found via The Next Web).
“The passwords were shared via a Russian hacker site, and security researcher Per Thorsheim confirms that the leak is legit. LinkedIn hasn’t offered any statement on the incident at the time of this writing, but we would strongly suggest changing your password.
Click here to learn how to change your LinkedIn password >
“UPDATE: LinkedIn reports via Twitter that its “team is currently looking into reports of stolen passwords. Stay tuned for more.”
“UPDATE 2: LinkedIn tweets again — “Our team continues to investigate, but at this time, we’re still unable to confirm that any security breach has occurred. Stay tuned here.”
“UPDATE 3: Robert David Graham tweets that he can confirm this hack is real and wrote this blog post explaining how he found his password among the leaked data.”
Source: On Purpose Magazine – which has been shared on the LinkedIn site by members
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Not on LinkedIn, and I’d better not be on eHarmony cause my wife wouldn’t like that, and there would be some serious inharmony in our home. But thanks for the education on Keypass, which I may start using.
My mind is good at creating my own Gobbledy-goo passwords, and I’m pretty good at remembering my Gobbledy-goo. (fun word!) Let’s see them hack an audible call variation of a passing play changed to a running play at the line of scrimmage, from my 1975 high school football team offense…
But your way with Keypass is even better, so thanks for sharing, Michelle.
Not a problem. I swear by Keypass. Took me a while to go through all my accounts and change them, but I did.
Not on LinkedIn. But then, it’s intended for working folks, right? Anyway, this is just another reason for me to not get into social networking sites. Too much information flying around too easily to too many people. I may look into Keypass, though. Like you, I can’t always remember what goes where.
I had an account at one time. Forgot I had it, opened another, and then a third on accident. I kept getting emails that someone wanted to connect, or whatever it is, so I started a very basic account. Gave the minimum info – and never realized I actually had three accounts. Then I kept getting emails and bugged, and could never figure the thing out – which is unusual for me. But I never put a lot of effort into it either. So after being bugged with too many emails, and realizing I had three different accounts – because I had two different work emails, then my personal email – I managed to shut them all down and told LinkedIn to go away. Literally. They were pissing me off.
And guess what… I still get freakin’ emails that someone wants to connect, or LinkedIn spam. And it tries to get me to log in – but I completely shut them all down. And I still can’t get rid of them. To tell them, AGAIN, to bug off, they want me to log in. Hell no… I’m not creating another login to be spammed more.
And I found it to be a place where people go who want to think their “something.” Naaahhhhh
Thanksn for the advice I had never heard of keypass befopre
I hadn’t either until a systems developer friend of mine told me about it and helped me set it up. It’s not complex, but there’s a small learning curve.
Michelle, thanks for this. will do asap. continue…