Linked In

Its amazing what a simple google search will produce. Try searching for the following: linkedin directory people

In the result set you will quickly find this page which lists all the profiles that are set to appear in search results.
http://www.linkedin.com/directory/people/a.html

Try changing the letter in front of the .html to match your last name. For Susan Fischer its s.html.

You will then see further divisions of last name groups. Eventually you will find a list containing your profile.

If you see your profile in the list, make sure you are logged out of LinkedIn and click on it and see what everyone sees.

If there is information here you don't want just anyone to see then you may need to alter your LinkedIn preferences.

LinkedIn recently had a password breach but its not the only company to have this happen. However being high profile it gets the press. This is a good opportunity to ask those companies that run sites you login to on a regular basis what they are doing to secure your information. If they don't have a plan or cannot tell you what they are doing then maybe you should stop logging in and delete your account. Also post a comment here on who they were so we can keep each other's info safe.

Check out this article I found on Infoworld: Privacy may be a joke to companies, its no laughing matter to the rest of us

Password Rules

Given the latest scare with LinkedIn Password breaches. I thought it would be a good time to review password rules.

1) Don't use the same password on multiple websites.

2) Never give passwords out.

3) Follow standard rules for passwords like including special characters and don't use actual words.

4) Take advantage of sign in via facebook, twitter, etc as that way the password is only in one spot. As long as facebook, twitter, etc keeps it secure you are good to go. Odds are you are safer with your password in one database rather than many databases that could get hacked.

Some sites have gone overboard with rules. Here is an example of overkill I found while reading a mashables article:

http://portal.cs.oag.state.tx.us/OAGStaticContent/portal/login/help/listPasswordRules.htm

The most important things to learn is to only supply the bare minimum information on sites so when there is a breach they only have a little information on you.