How I Became Melania Trump

Oh my! What a tough couple of days. I have been fighting a hacker in Nigeria that took control of my LinkedIn profile page.

I was hacked, and when he found out that I was fighting back for account control, he changed the name on LinkedIn profile to Melania Trump. So for three days, my LinkedIn Profile had the picture of the First Lady of the United States, and all of my LinkedIn communications carried the name of Melania Trump. You may be asking, like I did, what the &%$^K?

Here is how it happened, and my key insights.

• Thursday. I get a message on LinkedIn from a person to share a document. I click on the link. The link goes to a form asking for my password (the link looks like Dropbox file sharing). I entered my password. (MY MISTAKE. Never, never, ever enter your password on a form document even though it looks like a file sharing request.) I had my guard down on LinkedIN and I should not have given out my password.
• Thursday Afternoon. My password is changed by the hacker and the primary email is changed on my LinkedIn and my Gmail accounts. (My gmail contact information is connected to many accounts.) Contacts in my network are sent a request for password information. Multiple parties contact me to share that I have been hacked. I try to get into LinkedIn to make changes, but I cannot access the account. I try to send a note to Linkedin through their help desk, but I could not. You must be an active member of LinkedIn to access the help desk.
• Friday Morning. I establish a new account to make contact with the help desk at LinkedIn. The help desk sends me a link to share government ID documentation to verify my identity to my gmail account. I attempt to send this information, but the hacker blocks it and closes the case with LinkedIn. I try in desperation to find a contact at LinkedIn to call. (Not possible. All of the communication at LinkedIn is completed through case files. Don't waste your time trying to find a live person.)
• Sunday Morning. I again try to upload authentication. I am not successful. My gmail hacker blocks the attempt. Late Sunday night, my identity is changed to be Melania Trump. (Oh MY!)
• Monday Morning. I attempt to set-up LinkedIn accounts to open new case files using my Facebook login. I file multiple cases. This confuses the help desk.
• Monday Afternoon. I ask my contacts to report the issue.
• Tuesday Night. I am contacted by LinkedIn to rectify the situation.

What did I learn?

1. Avoid the issue. The obvious answer? Never respond to a request for a password. Regaining your identity on LinkedIn is almost impossible. If you see that your friends and contacts have been hacked, CHANGE YOUR PASSWORD. Protect yourself. A hack into LinkedIn can be dangerous.
2. It is ugly. The LinkedIn system makes it easy to lock out the account owner. When the hacker changes the password and the email, the only way to take back account control is through a manual case file system that takes 24-48 hours for a response. A hacker can do a lot of damage in this period of time.
3. Anyone there? There is no substitute for a live help line. If you own a platform or a system, make sure that your users can access a live person. Management of an issue like this through a case file system leaves a lot of room for issues. The hacker in the 24-48 hour delay for resolution caused havoc.
4. Melania? I have over 13,000 direct connections and 230,000 followers. Yet, only five people contacted me to let me know that there was an issue when my name changed from Lora Cecere to Melania Trump. <Really? Yes, really. Only five people let me know. I had no idea that my new name was Melania Trump.> < The name change threw me, I had no idea that I needed to search for a new name. > So, if you see something strange, report it to LinkedIn and let your friends know. Realize that your friend can easily be blocked to get into their LinkedIn account by a smart hacker.
5. Manually record case files. In resolving this type of case, record your LinkedIn url (on your information profile) and record each case number manually. The hacker will be working feverishly to delete the cases as soon as they are created. Without the ability to communicate case numbers, the resolution will take longer.

Yes, I am back. The real Lora Cecere now has ownership of the Lora Cecere LinkedIn account. Over the past four days, I got no rides on Airforce One or any perks of being First Lady, but I did learn a lot about hacking. It is a VERY painful experience on LinkedIN. I hope it is one that you can avoid.