Your LinkedIn Account Has Been Hacked – Here’s What to Do Ep 100

Enthusiastically Self-Employed: business tips, marketing tips, and LinkedIn tips for coaches, consultants, speakers, authors, solopreneurs & small business owners

🎉🥂Pop the champagne and throw the confetti—it's the 100th episode of Enthusiastically Self-Employed!
In this episode, I'll address an increasing trend: LinkedIn accounts being hacked.
My friend, Brenda Cadman reached out to me recently after her account had been hacked -- even despite her attempts to prevent it from occurring.

• She had a strong password
• She had enabled 2FA (Two Factor Authentication)

She discovered this after landing from a flight when travelling, due to a flurry of emails from LinkedIn about an email being added, then a password being changed, and she was already locked out.
In this episode, I'll address the following:
What to do if your LinkedIn account has been hacked.

1. Report it IMMEDIATELY to LinkedIn. This will lock up the account, even for the hacker. Use this link.
2. Ask a friend to look up your account and see if anything has been changed. Get screen captures. Look to see if the email address is visible.
3. Give LinkedIn 24-48 hours to work their magic.
4. Ask a heavy user of LinkedIn (I recommend a LinkedIn coach / trainer who has an excellent reputation on LinkedIn), to post about your account being hacked to warn others. Ask them to tag in @linkedin-help on their post. Here's the post. Thanks to Cliff Fernandes for the additional insights!

Steps to prevent it from occurring again in the future -- or for the first time!

1. Log out of LinkedIn on the app and desktop BEFORE jumping on public WiFi. Or, open up your VPN (I use Bitdefender) on your laptop or phone before navigating onto public WiFi.
2. Close out of all sessions periodically. Do this from the desktop version of LinkedIn. How.
3. Set up 2FA. How.
4. Use a strong password.
5. Sharing your account with anyone (not recommended)? Periodically change your password.

WARNING:

• LinkedIn is a target for hackers due to its credibility for professional networking.
• The higher up you move in an organization or the more visible you become, the more of a target.
• People usually do this for bragging rights.
  

BONUSES:

• Luckily, Brenda Cadman was aware of me and reached out to me via email after reporting it to LinkedIn.
• If you're a client, I'll give you this same VIP treatment if your account is ever hacked. 😎

LinkedIn "Power Hours" (Single Session, x4, x12)
Each package includes:

• LinkedIn consulting / coaching, personalized to your needs and focusing on your questions.
• Review of LinkedIn profile / company page to provide guidance / advice / recommendations

https://www.mellermarketing.com/powerhour

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My name is Brenda Meller. I'm a LinkedIn coach, consultant, speaker, and author. My company is Meller Marketing and I help business professionals get a bigger slice of the LinkedIn pie.
Visit mellermarketing.com
Let's connect on LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/brendameller
(click MORE to invite me to connect and mention you listened to my podcast)

Chapter

1. LinkedIn Account Hacking Prevention Tips (00:00:00)

2. LinkedIn Security Best Practices (00:12:01)

3. LinkedIn Account Hacking Recovery Guide (00:17:06)