To think Linked profiles are personal security risks?

[BishBashBoshy]

My linked in profile is up to date but I never use it. I don't appear on general searches as I'm not set up to. I have a v unusual name so it's probable people have to specifically search for me.

I've just had a notification that a previous employer and a local debt collector have both searched me this week. I can't see specific names but it shows where they work.

I left the employer on v bad terms, so they won't be searching fir anything good. The debt collector I have no idea about. I have no debts. I think that both searched in the same week when I'm never normally searched for has worried me. Not sure why.

But it got me thinking about the security of having all that info out there. I regularly change info on here eg my username, the amount of children I have etc. My Facebook page is a fake name and has no info on it at all. I only really use it to follow small businesses/local groups. But yet, I have my full name, picture, general location, current and previous jobs, skills.. all on one page in Linked in. That's a security risk isn't it really?

I don't use it so I'm shutting it down but just wondered if I'm being paranoid?

I mean LinkedIn profiles obviously!

I guess it could be. I'm a civil servant so I'm careful about what I put on there - and all my connections I actually know in real life.

What I find really odd is that some of my colleagues are in groups named after our security clearance levels (e.g. SV or DV) and surely that's advertising yourself to a potential espionage attempt!

Yes, it's all factual stuff on there that can't be misinterpreted. I don't post stuff or comment on anything. My connections (all 20 odd of them!) are people I know personally but the if I wanted to stay in touch, it wouldn't be through Linked in tbh.

@AnneElliott what do you use it for?

I'm not looking for a new job and don't "network".

Obviously there is some element of security risk. There’s a lot of data on there.

I wouldn’t panic about your searches on you though, I regularly check mine and it’s a right old mix most weeks.

The previous employer is easily explained, someone who worked at the company wondering what you were up to. The debt collector could have come off the back of that, once someone searches you it can pop up as “people who looked at this profile also looked at this profile” so the debt collector may be connected to them and you popped up on his.

Also - wouldn’t panic about this being about personal debt (you don’t have any anyway) he’s probably looking for business and searching people in admin roles to see if he can sell his services.

YANBU. My daughter has just graduated and all the job searching advice cites a LinkedIn profile as being absolutely essential.

My daughter was stalked very seriously last year (police and CPS involved) so making all that personal information readily available is out of the question for her now. What happened has made her hyper-aware of all the things that other people (especially young women like her) put online, and how it would only take a casual chance encounter with the wrong person (as happened to her) for their safety to be compromised massively. And permanently.

YANBU

I don't have much information on mine and I am targeted by spammers.

They’re compulsory in my work- funnily enough my only profile visitor this week has been my ex from 14 years ago’s current girlfriend....

There's loads of civil servants on there so I use it just to catch up on old colleagues' new jobs. I don't use it for job hunting myself.

I agree. A while ago I was made redundant and had outplacement support which included sessions on marketing yourself, including online. I had not exactly locked down my profile but taken out some of the more identifying information about school etc. The lady who did the course suggested that we should make our profiles fuller and more open. I did do, but you've reminded me that perhaps it wasn't the most sensible thing to do.

I don’t have one for that reason, but I’ve worked at the same place for 19 years so I can get away with that. In the unlikely event I need a new job, I’ll have to make a profile.

Don't you have to pay something to find out who searched for you? I never know who searched for me.
I voted YABU by the way.

My work pays for the enhanced version so I get told who’s snooping

@anneelliot your colleagues really should not. One of the conditions of sc vetting and presumably dv is that you don't mention the fact on social media

Why is it compulsory in your profession, 2girls? I guess you have a job where networking is very important to securing clients?

In the nicest possible way, I don't really understand the purpose of the thread. You don't use it for anything and you barely have any connections, the connections you do have are pointless because you know them well enough to communicate by other means. Just get rid of it if it's worrying you.

Mine has limited information, which you can find on my company website anyway.

You don't need to tell your entire life-story on there.

Maybe it's my industry but I find LinkedIn utterly pointless.
Just giving away loads of info for no return. I shut mine down. Won't set up a new one

So don't have a LinkedIn profile. It's not compulsory.

People might be searching all the time for your name on Google but you don't know because the site doesn't tell you.

Literally no one forced you to open a linked in account so this is a problem of your own creation. You can adjust your privacy settings to control what non-connections can see or even remove information - many people do not add their school name, photograph or every previous job for privacy reasons.

this week I had a phishing email with a quite scary blackmail threat, which correctly gave a password I use quite frequently.
When I googled it I discovered that a few years agi several sites, including Linkedin had major security breach where users email addresses and passwords were used.

So yes, I think it's risky.

I cancelled mine for that very reason.

@ragged my job involves some social media and networking. It also helps if I need to locate someone within my organisation because it shows hierarchy whereas our internal directory doesn’t. I don’t have my picture on there and I literally just repost very boring tech articles so I’m not too bothered by people looking on there.

I had a similar conversation with dh the other week who needs the account for work.
His job can make him quite unpopular and this was taken to the extreme recently. I looked at his profile to see if these people could possibly find our home address.
He had the company he worked for but rather than a generic area he'd put the name of the village we live in. A quick Google showed the address as there was only one person in the village with whom the name matched.

Fortunately he did take my concern seriously and changed it to the county now where dozens share his name and chances of having my windows put through have lessened.