The latest Cyberint revealed, that from one moment to the next, hackers break into thousands of LinkedIn profiles without any prior warning from his report. According to the paper, many users complained that they were still able to access their accounts in the evening, but not the next morning — the only problem is that the social media site’s customer service can’t help with this either.
Coral Tayyar, a researcher at Cyberint, also revealed that some were forced to pay to get their accounts back, or else their profile would be permanently deleted. He later added that although LinkedIn has not yet issued an official statement on the matter, due to the increase in the number of complaints, they are now definitely aware of the issue.
My account was hacked six days ago. My email address was changed in the middle of the night and I had no way of confirming the change or preventing it from happening
– wrote one of the participants on Reddit. “No answer anywhere. This is pathetic. I tried to report my hacked account, went through the identity verification process, and sent them a private message on Twitter @linkedinhelp.” said another.
According to Cyberint, signs of the outbreak are also reflected in Google Trends, where search terms related to hacking or restoring LinkedIn accounts have seen a 5,000 percent increase in recent days. The newspaper believes the hackers used leaked credentials and violent coercion to gain access to many of the accounts.
This is not the first such case
As Index previously reported, they have recently been trying to steal data through messaging apps as well. First, victims were tricked into installing a new messaging app that would allow them to continue the conversation on a more secure interface, so to speak. That’s when SafeChat came into the picture, with all its elements designed to disguise itself as a real and reliable messaging app.
Of course, data theft cannot happen without various permissions thanks to the Android security system, but most users accept it without reading it, so it was very easy for scammers. After entering them, the app had easy access to the victim’s contact list, SMS, call logs, external storage, and the exact location of the device.
In addition, the app also asked users to agree to exclude Android’s battery optimizer subsystem, which in some cases stops background processes when the user is not actively interacting with the app – allowing it to actively run without stopping.
This is how you can avoid similar situations
As we’ve pointed out many times, the easiest way to avoid falling victim to a scam is to be careful and not download apps or grant permissions you’re not sure you need. In addition, it is extremely important that you set up two-factor authentication wherever possible, because thanks to this, the risks of hacking your account can be reduced to the minimum possible.
