LinkedIn Fights Social Hacking With Two-Factor Authentication

A compromised password for your social network account can quickly jump from an inconvenience to a nightmare, so services like Google have long offered two-step verification features to help you prove you’re, well, you. LinkedIn is finally getting in on the game with its own verification program, which sends you a text message when someone accesses your account from a new computer. If that someone is you, you enter a code and you’re on your way. If that’s not you, whoever has your password is stopped in his tracks.


LinkedIn only makes you go through the two-factor authentication process when you access the service from a device it doesn’t recognize. The logic behind that is simple: if someone has hacked your account, he’s probably accessing it from a device that isn’t yours. Given that many, if not most such attacks go down on a separate device, this is an easy way to minimize inconvenience while keeping security tight. If you’re worried about someone accessing LinkedIn from, say, you smartphone, it’s time to set up you phone’s built-in lock, too.

If you don’t want to enable two-factor authentication, you can leave your LinkedIn account as-is. If want the peace of mind, setting up authentication is easy enough. Click Settings (under your name) and click Manage security settings on the account tab. You’ll find it in the security settings.