Firstly Happy Canada Day to all Canadian readers and Happy 4th of July for Monday to all my American readers.
A new, unpublished Intel Security survey of 2,000 U.K.-based LinkedIn users found that nearly 24 percent of respondents have connected on LinkedIn with someone they did not know. Moreover, nearly 69 percent of survey-takers said it never even crossed their minds that the people they’ve connected with might be fictional online personas created by fraudsters.
The article in Security Magazine went on to say – The more employees that a bad actor can connect with, the easier it becomes to accumulate even more victims, because the scam artist’s connections with other industry colleagues make him or her looks legit. “The fact that you have mutual connections means that you’re automatically deemed trustworthy to enter my network. That’s social validation” said Raj Samani, CTO of EMEA Intel Security.
Also unpublished research from BrandProtect a cyberthreat intelligence firm found that as of May 2016, 15 percent of Fortune 100 CEOs who own LinkedIn accounts are represented by multiple profiles, while almost 40 percent of Fortune 100 CEOs on Twitter had at least one duplicate or copycat account.
It is up to all of us to maintain the integrity and usefulness of LinkedIn by paying attention to those connection requests and even taking a moment this long weekend to take a quick look through our current network for any suspicious profiles.
One on my most popular articles on the LinkedIn Pulse platform has been “7 Ways to Spot a False LinkedIn Profile” if you do not know how I encourage you to read it by clicking here – there is also in that article a useful 5 steps to take to avoid it happening in the future.
In the words of the desk sergeant on Hill St Blues, “Lets be extra careful out there”
Enjoyed this article? Please leave a COMMENT and SHARE with others. Thanks.
There are 22 key areas on your LinkedIn profile that you can edit and brand to stand out more. In fact a full personally branded LinkedIn profile can increase opportunities by up to 40 times according to LinkedIn. In our free report “5 Steps to Boosting Your Personal Brand on LinkedIn” you can get a head start – click here to access the free report.
Here is what one recipient had to say: “I think it is fantastic and extremely relevant. As you pointed out, my role has changed – but unfortunately, my linked in profile has not. I will be trying to put in place some of the ideas that you have offered.”