LinkedIn will introduce new verification features to help tackle creating fake accounts over the next few months.
The business-focused social media platform allows people to connect with like-minded businesspeople, find new employees/jobs, and look for opportunities.
Because of its popularity, we're seeing an increase in "fake profiles" created by scammers to lure people in for other purposes.
As a result, bot-like accounts have been appearing all over the platform. They've been spamming people, tricking genuine profiles into downloading malware, as well as scamming them into giving away personal data.
While it is true, LinkedIn holds a considerable amount of information on each of its members, such as their job history, contact details, professional interests, and places of work – all valuable data that a determined criminal could use.
Many of these fake accounts are hard to spot. Yes, this is because they look like real people (most with AI-generated deepfake images), they seem to work for legitimate businesses, and many of these profiles have been carefully curated to look like the real thing.
LinkedIn will make changes over the coming months to help tackle the creation of fake accounts through an improved authentication process.
Microsoft, who owns LinkedIn, is partnering with the secure identity platform Clear to help authenticate new accounts using work email addresses, government-issued IDs, and phone numbers.
Initially, it will only be tested in the US. However, assuming it's a success, expect to see a wider rollout over the coming months.
After gathering the relevant information, accounts will receive a verification mark, kind of like the ones introduced by Twitter. But, unlike Twitter, LinkedIn will offer the verification free of charge to help ensure the platform continued use.
We'll keep you updated as we know more, but in the meantime, if you need help keeping your accounts secure, get in touch.
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