Yesterday, LinkedIn’s official blog confirmed that a portion of their password database has been hacked and account passwords have been stolen. LinkedIn will be disabling the affected accounts and will email account holders further instructions for resetting the password. Visit the link above for more information about this process.
LinkedIn also published a set of recommendations for protecting your account: Updating Your Password on LinkedIn and Other Account Security Best Practices.
This seems like a good time to remind the community about Middlebury College’s Password Policy, which also contains a set of password standards. One of these standards states: i) Users must NEVER use the same password for Middlebury College accounts as for non-Middlebury College access.
Please remember that you can get up-to-date security tips and news from the LIS Information Security page.
I’d like to change my password. can i do that now or do i have to wait until it expires?
That’s a good question… for the LinkedIn tech staff. I think it’s probably a good idea to change it now, and, worst-case scenario, they’ll ask you to change it again. Check item #4 on LinkedIn’s official blog updated blog post. Their note makes it sound like if they haven’t disabled your account yet, you’re not affected, so changing the password is a good step.