LinkedIn Security Concerns: Advice from Experian on Password Protection

LinkedIn Security Concerns: Advice from Experian on Password Protection PR Newswire NOTTINGHAM, England, June 8, 2012 NOTTINGHAM, England, June 8, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- Experian is alerting consumers to the importance of strong password protection, following reports that nearly 6.5 million passwords belonging to members of social networking website LinkedIn may have been leaked online. Experian figures show that more than one in two people (54%) use the same password for two or more online accounts, [1]with 22% using the same password for 'most' or 'all' of their accounts. For a significant proportion of internet users, these kind of password leaks can open up many of their online profiles to fraudsters, who could use them to collect valuable personal information. Peter Turner, Managing Director of Experian Consumer Services, UK&I said: "We might think that secure password protection is only a priority for our financial accounts, but fraudsters know how to use personal information such as dates of birth, addresses and maiden names - all things that you might record on any number of personal profiles - to steal your identity. "With fraud on the increase, you should take steps to provide a unique and secure password for every one of the accounts you hold online, change these passwords regularly, and never write them down or share them with anyone.