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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