Aug 16 – In recent months, many LinkedIn users have been locked out of accounts for security reasons or ultimately, had their accounts hijacked by cyber attackers.

And LinkedIn users have become vocal about the recent account takeovers and lockouts. An inability to solve the issue through LinkedIn support has compounded users’ negative experiences.

According to cyber security researchers, some individuals have even been pressured into paying a ransom to regain control of their accounts.

LinkedIn hijacking

Although LinkedIn hasn’t yet made an official announcement about the issue, the company appears to be experiencing a high volume of support requests and the support response time has increased.

One affected user stated that his email address was changed in the middle of the night, and he had no ability to confirm the change or to prevent the occurrence.

More information

Signs of the issue are reflected in Google Trends, where search terms pertaining to LinkedIn account hacking and recovery have increased by 5,000% across the past few months.

Cyber attackers appear to be leveraging stolen credentials or brute-force attacks to gain control over a large volume of LinkedIn profiles.

For accounts that are appropriately protected by strong passwords and/or two-factor authentication, the takeover attempts resulted in a temporary account lock imposed by the platform, which is intended to serve as a protection measure.

Further details

LinkedIn accounts can prove valuable for cyber attackers and can lead to multi-million dollar cyber-heists.

If you have a LinkedIn account, review the security measures that you have in place. Enable 2FA and switch to a unique and lengthy password.

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