It may be time to change your password and set up two-step verification after a 2012 data breach just exposed the personal information of members. Here's how.
You could add an extra security step to your LinkedIn account.
Those of you who use LinkedIn might want to beef up your security.
On May 18, the professional-networking site said that more than 100 million members' email and password combinations hacked during a 2012 data breach had just been posted online. In the same breach, hackers stole and publicly released a separate set of 6.5 million encrypted passwords that year.
On Wednesday, LinkedIn emailed its members to explain what it's doing and what its members should do. The company said member email addresses, hashed passwords and LinkedIn member IDs (an internal identifier LinkedIn assigns to each member profile) from 2012 had been compromised. In response, LinkedIn invalidated the passwords of all accounts created prior to the 2012 breach in which the password had not been reset since that year.
Cyberattacks against websites are nothing new but have ramped up in recent years as hackers find new ways to exploit security holes. Hackers often sell stolen customer data on the black market, and hacked sites are forced to acknowledge and upgrade their vulnerable security methods. Users have to change their passwords and worry about personal data ending up in the wrong hands.
LinkedIn users can take steps to beef up their account security by setting up a strong password and implementing two-factor authentication, which provides an extra level of protection. Here's how to do both via LinkedIn's website:
Change your password
OK, let's say you want to take security a step further and set up two-step verification. This security method uses verification codes sent to your mobile phone, which you then enter at the website.
Set up two-step verification
Using a strong password and two-step verification may be cumbersome steps, but they can help protect your account credentials from being used by the wrong people.