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On Wednesday, June 6th, 2012 LinkedIn confirmed reports 6.5 million LinkedIn passwords on the web were compromised. Although LinkedIn claimed to find no evidence of a data breach, its users reported that their passwords were on the list “of allegedly stolen hashed passwords” posted to a Russian hacker server.

The report was all over the 6 o’clock news last night.

Since the hacker had employed “crowdsourcing” to proliferate password cracking – the process by which one person solicits the support of many to achieve a specific goal, in this case to decipher or “crack” more complexed passwords which puts several accounts at risk, we at Think Profits responded in similar measure to mitigate the vulnerability our privacy and security face in light of the situation. We immediately reached out to our connections in the social space.

Instinctively, we shared the CNET article on our Facebook accounts to alert our family and friends, tweeted the article with hashtags #passwordreset #security #privacy, and emailed the link to our colleagues at the workplace.

“This is a good time to change your password on LinkedIn.”

To change your LinkedIn password, log onto your account. Click on your name in the upper right corner and then click on the link for Settings. In the Settings section, click on the Change link next to Password. You’ll be prompted to to enter your old password and then create a new one. Aim to pick a complex password that’s not easy to decipher. Then click on the Change Password button.

It can be quite disconcerting to find one’s account at risk, let alone compromised. There are proactive ways that we can all take on a daily basis to remain vigilant and protect our privacy and security online and offline. In this case, here’s a useful resource online on How to choose a complex password.

Have you experienced a similar incident in the past? How did you manage it?

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