A security expert tells you how to use combined data.
These are the risks if your information is collected on LinkedIn. Ismo Pekkarinen/AOP
The information of more than 200,000 Finns has been leaked from Linkedin to a hacker forum, F-Secure announces on Twitter.
– The information contains names, phone numbers, email addresses and more, the tweet says in English.
Linkedin itself has denied the data leak For Cybernews.com.
Check Point’s information security expert Jarno Ahlström says that according to both Linkedin’s own statement and other current information, Linkedin has not suffered a data breach.
– It’s about scraping data. This means that people can be searched for their contact information from public profiles or collect information as a logged-in user.
In Linkedin’s terms of use, there is a mention that automatic data collection is not allowed.
Ahlström flatters those who are concerned.
– There is no big concern. If you’ve decided to make your contact information public, it’s been there for quite some time. Now they are just collected in one and the same place.
According to him, the greater risk at the moment is that information will be combined in the future, when more convincing scams are created.
– If a fishing message is sent from the contact information of the person in charge, it is easier to stumble upon it.
Possible scam
Iltalehti has previously reported on similar scams. In 2020”Helena” told IL how he lost 1,800 euros because “my boss” asked for a favor.
The manager said that he was currently in a meeting and could not talk on the phone, so communication had to be done by e-mail.
– I want you to help me buy Google Play cards from any store near you. I need a gift card for certain customers, reads the copy of the message seen by Iltalehti.
The money was promised back the same day through expense reimbursements. As a new employee, Helena hurriedly went to pick up seven gift cards for the sum of one hundred euros from a nearby kiosk. He had performed similar tasks in his previous workplace as an assistant.
– He thanked and said that he needed the activation codes scratched from the gift cards to give to the customers. I have sometimes received codes through my work that allow you to watch streaming services for free for a while. I thought this was a similar thing. Nothing strange.