If you like it or not, LinkedIn is being used by governments and criminals organizations to collect information which will allow them to setup an attack or plan to achieve something. Now there have been various reports which state that LinkedIn is being covered by fake accounts which are only seeking to gain access to information which is not directly public. So in order to help the LinkedIn community and yourself forward, we will take a look at some tips which will help you to stay safe and out of the hands of those LinkedIn spies.

Your own account

The LinkedIn social/business media network allows users to setup an two-factor authentication password. It is strongly advised to use that security feature. This feature will make it harder (not impossible) for spies and hackers to gain access to your LinkedIn profile.

The account which is trying to add you

If someone tries to add you, the first thing you will have to look at is the fact if an ‘personal message’ has been included in the message. If no message has been included, and you do not know the person, than simply forget the invite and continue with what you are doing.

The profile

If the invite has an message which has triggered you, then make sure that you do take a view on the LinkedIn profile of the person which has invited you.

Start looking for information which allow you to get an insight in the history of that person. Does it match and is it logical?! Some of these fake profile have immense profiles which hold a lot of information, but once you take a look at referrals and friends, you will see that it is often not logical.

The web

If you have taken a look at the profile and still do not trust the profile, then do a simple search on the internet. Google can be your best friend in this case. Search for the company, and search for the picture which is used by using the Google Image search tool.

The choice is all yours. Which tips do you have to keep others safe on LinkedIn?