More than 117 Million LinkedIn Accounts Possibly Affected
Today started like many days. While going through my "spam" email folder, I noticed an email from LinkedIn requesting that I change my password. Was the email legitimate, or spam? I wasn't sure, so I went to my LinkedIn page. There I learned that before I could get access, I needed to reset my password. I did a little more research on why I was asked to reset my password, and wow - I couldn't believe what I learned!
Passwords are at the core of all IT security. Be honest, are you good at managing your passwords? Do you change them often? Are they complex enough? Here's a challenging question - are you personal and business passwords the same? Why would that matter, you ask?
According to a security blog on LinkedIn's website, more than 6.5 million users were asked to reset their passwords, stemming from a security breach that LinkedIn had in 2012. That was 4 years ago! Apparently, the bad guys waited awhile before putting more than 100 million LinkedIn passwords for sale online this last week.
What is the value in a password? According to the Krebs Security Blog, our passwords say a lot about us and often are used in multiple sites. If they have your username, identity (a lot is in LinkedIn), and your password, there are probably a lot of places they could go.
|