Report a compromised account

Last updated: 5 months ago
We take the responsibility of protecting our members, their accounts and their data on our services seriously. Sometimes accounts can be compromised by bad actors who wrongfully gain access to member accounts and data. If this happens to your account, we work with you to regain access and secure your account. If it happens to one of your connection’s accounts, there are steps you can take to protect your data and others.
My own account was compromised

If you can't access your account with your login information and notice changes being made to your account or if you suspect that someone else has access to your account, please let us know immediately by submitting the Reporting Account Access Issue form as soon as possible. Be sure to include the URL for your profile if you have it.

If you can’t access your account and believe that someone else has accessed it, complete the form and after receiving it we'll verify that it’s your account and then help you regain access.
If you believe that someone else has access to your LinkedIn account, but you’re still able to log into your account, please submit the form and immediately take the following actions to protect your account:
  1. Change your password. Choose a strong password or passphrase that’s not used anywhere else. Don’t make it the same as other online services or email accounts that you use.
  2. Turn on two-step verification, which prevents unauthorized access to your account even if someone has your username and password.
  3. Review your active sessions to see all the places you’re signed into LinkedIn right now. You can see details about each session, sign out of individual sessions, or sign out of everywhere at once. If you don't recognize a particular login or device, be sure to change your password and sign out of that session.
  4. Review all email address(es) and phone numbers on your LinkedIn account to make sure they’re up to date and that they will be secure if we need to send a link to enable you to reset your password.
  5. Check your personal email account(s) tied to your account to ensure their security. You can always reset the passwords on those accounts as well, to be on the safe side.
It’s always a good idea to take action to secure your account from access by others. Our terms of service prohibit you from sharing accounts with others and ask that you try to secure your login credentials.
How was my account compromised?
Accounts are typically compromised when a bad actor has access to your login credentials (username and password) or a device that you’re logged into. There are a number of ways this could happen:
  • You recently signed into your account from a public computer or a shared device and you didn't completely sign out of your account. The next person to access the site on that device may have unintentionally signed in to your account.
  • An email or phone registered in your account is outdated and access to the email or phone has been recycled or compromised.
  • If you use the same password for multiple websites, a bad actor may have obtained your login credentials through a phishing attack that was unaffiliated with LinkedIn.
There are many resources to learn more about online security and precautions you can take to keep you safer online, such as avoiding public wireless networks without using a virtual private network, and not re-using the same password across different websites.
Is there more I can do?
Once you have regained access to your account, there are some additional things you might consider doing:
  1. Review your recent connections to help ensure that you are connected only to people you know and/or trust.
  2. Review the posts and activity made when your account was compromised to help ensure that only your real posts are associated with your account.
  3. Review recent follows and other social actions (likes, follows, posts) to ensure they are all yours.
  4. Consider checking your connections, activity, and messages and delete any actions you didn't take.
I suspect my connection’s account was compromised
If you suspect that the account of one of your connections on LinkedIn was compromised, we recommend taking the following steps right away:
  1. Navigate to the profile of the member in question.
  2. Click the More… button below the member’s profile picture and select Report or block from the list.
  3. Select Report content on profile in the pop-up window.
  4. Select Profile Information in the pop-up window.
  5. Select Suspicious, spam or fake in the Why are you reporting the profile information in this profile? pop-up window.
  6. Select Hacked account in the How is this suspicious, spam or fake? pop-up window.
After receiving this notice, we’ll investigate further. If we determine the account has been compromised, we’ll reach out to that member to help them secure their account. In the meantime, you can: