Have you ever received a LinkedIn invitation from someone you’ve never met? How do you know they are who they say they are?
You may want to think twice about accepting unknown invitations to expand your professional network. This practice can put you and your employer at risk for phishing, online scams and computer infections.
Cyber criminals use this technique to target professionals to compromise you and company computer systems. It’s simple and inexpensive for the criminal to create a fake profile and pretend to be a recruiter or someone in the same profession. Through this connection, they gain valuable information about you, the company and others in your professional network. They quickly expand their attack by using your LinkedIn connections to send invitations, which are accepted because of their professional connection with you.
Consider these things before accepting a LinkedIn invitation:
- Don’t accept invitations from individuals you do not know or have never worked with.
- Be cautious of invitations that haven’t been personalized, including how they know you or where you met.
- Don’t open requests advertising goods or services. This could likely be a spam message.
- Never open attachments or click on links within a suspected request. These can compromise your computer and accounts.
