LinkedIn and Hackers - In This Together Roundtable

LinkedIn Security: How Can You Protect Yourself from New Cyber-Threats on the Business Social Platform?

LINKEDIN PROVIDES HACKERS WITH CONVENIENT RESOURCES

The social media platform LinkedIn has built itself up to be a fundamental part of the business community. It’s no longer acceptable for a working professional or business to not have a profile on LinkedIn. Social networking on LinkedIn has enabled advancements in marketing, hiring, and tons of other business activities. However, with so much business and personal information posted on the platform for anyone to view, phishing threats are terribly easy for hackers to achieve.

Why is this?

Your Guard is lowered – Once trust is established, it’s only natural for you to let your guard down. LinkedIn is regarded as the most professional social media platform due to its business-orientation. People trust LinkedIn more than they do Facebook or Twitter, making cyber-attacks a no-brainer since you aren’t likely to question the validity of a phishing scheme.
Account Verification – Unlike Twitter and Facebook which show a checkmark next to each verified account to display their legitimacy, LinkedIn only displays this checkmark for users with premium accounts. This means that anyone can create an account under any name and claim to be that person.
High Quality Business Information – Not only do hackers have clear access to individuals information, but they know the company they work for and all of their connections that work with them as well. This makes phishing even easier to come from a name the person is familiar with. i.e. Spear phishing.