Tag: linkedin
Czech Police Arrest Russian Tied To 2012 LinkedIn Hack

Czech Police Arrest Russian Tied To 2012 LinkedIn Hack

PRAGUE (Reuters) – Czech police have detained a Russian man wanted in connection with criminal hacking attacks on targets in the United States in an arrest carried out in cooperation with the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation.

LinkedIn Corp said on Wednesday that the arrest was related to a 2012 breach at the social networking company that it previously said may have compromised credentials of 100 million users, prompting it to launch a massive password reset operation.

“Following the 2012 breach of LinkedIn member information, we have remained actively involved with the FBI’s case to pursue those responsible,” LinkedIn said in the statement.

“We are thankful for the hard work and dedication of the FBI in its efforts to locate and capture the parties believed to be responsible for this criminal activity,” the company said.

Czech police said that a court would decide whether to extradite the suspect to the United States.

The Russian news agency TASS indicated that Russia would fight any extradition attempt.

“We insist that the detainee is handed over to Russia,” it quoted Andrei Kolmakov, a spokesman for the Russian embassy in Prague, as saying.

Reuters could not reach Kolmakov for comment.

Czech and U.S. authorities declined to confirm that the man was a suspect in the LinkedIn breach or say what charges were being filed against him.

Video footage released by police showed a man being arrested without resistance in a restaurant of a central Prague hotel. He had dark hair, and wore a hooded sweatshirt with camouflage pattern, blue jeans and sneakers.

A Czech police spokesman said that Yevgeniy N., a Russian born in 1987, had been arrested on Oct. 5 in response to a request through Interpol.

Police said the man was briefly hospitalized after collapsing and then put in custody.

Two U.S. officials said the man was not linked to recent political hacks in the United States.

The U.S. government this month accused Russia of a campaign of cyber attacks against Democratic Party organizations ahead of the Nov. 8 presidential election. Russian President Vladimir Putin has said a hacking scandal would not be in Russia’s interests.

(Reporting by Jason Hovet, Robert Muller, Jan Lopatka, Mark Hosenball, Dustin Volz and Jim Finkle; Editing by Jeremy Gaunt, Richard Balmforth and Bernard Orr)

Photo: The logo for LinkedIn Corporation, a social networking networking website for people in professional occupations, is shown in Mountain View, California February 6, 2013. REUTERS/Robert Galbraith

Keeping Your LinkedIn Profile Fresh

Keeping Your LinkedIn Profile Fresh

By Brian Hyslop, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette (TNS)

For many professionals, LinkedIn is the lone source for networking. So it’s probably time to revisit your profile on the online networking site to gauge its effectiveness.

Does it say you are motivated, creative, passionate, or driven? Those are all on LinkedIn’s list of 2014’s Most Overused Buzzwords from more than 332 million members’ profiles worldwide.

Rounding out the U.S. list are: extensive experience, organizational, strategic, track record, responsible, and problem-solving.

So should you forgo using keywords? Absolutely not.

Keywords are crucial because, like search engine Google, the LinkedIn programming uses them in its search function, said Viveka Von Rosen, author ofLinkedIn Marketing: An Hour a Day.

But she said it is better to give examples of experience or creativity rather than just say you are experienced or creative. “It’s better if you can give a story or example of how you saved the day, or how your expertise resulted in beneficial results, or how your knowledge helped a client or how your capabilities resulted in more sales.”

Von Rosen had some more suggestions for polishing a LinkedIn profile to get more attention.

  • “You have to have a photo,” she said. Keep it professional. Photos of kittens don’t work unless you’re a veterinarian — and maybe not even then. Catherine Fisher, LinkedIn’s career expert, writes in her blog post, “How to Brand Yourself Without Sounding Like Everyone Else,” that profiles with a photo are 14 times more likely to be viewed.
  • Make sure your first name is in the first name field and your last name is in the last name field. Some people try to cram their degrees and job titles in there. Not only does it make you harder to find, it goes against LinkedIn’s user agreement.
  • The website profile’s Summary section should tell a story of why someone should hire you. “Tell a potential employer how they would benefit,” Von Rosen said. “What’s in it for them?”
  • It’s crucial to collect between 10 to 15 recommendations, essentially the LinkedIn version of a reference on your resume.
  • Take advantage of the ability to add media, such as PDFs of your work, videos or files that prove your credentials.
    Von Rosen, listed by Forbes magazine as a top social media influencer for three years running, said to raise a profile on LinkedIn, a person has to give more than they get.

That means helping others by sharing information, posting industry and company news, and answering questions. “Those things have the advantage of establishing you as an expert,” Von Rosen said.

And they have an added benefit.

“If you have a gracious and giving personality, that is much more likely to engender trust,” Van Rosen said, pointing to the famous saying by Bob Burg, noted author of Endless Referrals: “All things being equal, people will do business with, and refer business to, those people they know, like and trust.”

© 2015 Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC

Image: Nan Palmero via Flickr

LinkedIn Pays $6 Mln Over U.S. Wage Violations

LinkedIn Pays $6 Mln Over U.S. Wage Violations

Washington (AFP) — LinkedIn has paid nearly $6 million in back wages and damages to 359 current and former employees after a U.S. investigation found it had failed to compensate them appropriately for overtime work.

Under a settlement announced by the Labor Department on Monday, the career-focused social network said it paid more than $3.3 million in overtime back wages and $2.5 million in damages to workers in California, Illinois, Nebraska and New York.

“This company has shown a great deal of integrity by fully cooperating with investigators and stepping up to the plate without hesitation to help make workers whole,” said David Weil, administrator of the Labor Department’s Wage and Hour Division.

“We are particularly pleased that LinkedIn also has committed to take positive and practical steps toward securing future compliance.”

Labor Department investigators found that LinkedIn violated the overtime and record-keeping provisions of the Fair Labor Standards Act by neglecting to record, account, and pay for all hours worked in a workweek.

Under the law, covered, nonexempt employees must be paid at least the federal minimum wage of $7.25 per hour for all hours worked, plus time and a half their regular hourly rates for any work beyond 40 hours in a week.

LinkedIn attributed the violations to “not having the right tools in place for a small subset of our sales force to track hours properly,” adding that it had begun to remedy the problem before the Labor Department investigation.

“LinkedIn has made every effort possible to ensure each impacted employee has been made whole,” a spokesman added in a statement.

The company has also agreed to provide compliance training and distribute its policy prohibiting off the clock work to all nonexempt employees and their managers, remind managers of the affected employees that overtime work must be recorded and paid for, and reiterate its policy prohibiting retaliation against any employee who raises workplace concerns.

“Off the clock hours are all too common for the American worker. This practice harms workers, denies them the wages they have rightfully earned, and takes away time with families,” said Susana Blanco, Wage and Hour Division district director in San Francisco.

“We urge all employers, large and small, to review their pay practices to ensure employees know their basic workplace rights and that the commitment to compliance works through all levels of the organization.”

AFP Photo/Justin Sullivan

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