Don't Use LinkedIn's Newest Feature
Just last year, hackers beat LinkedIn like a pinata, and out came 6.5 million user passwords. Today, the resume-swapping titan is asking you to trust it to handle all of your email. You shouldn't.
A new LinkedIn feature called "Intro" promises to put user profiles directly inside your emails, something that's never been possible before, because Apple specifically blocks this kind of visual bullshit. Why you'd ever want graphical profiles of college acquaintances and former bosses placed directly inside your emails, I don't know—but maybe this will appeal to some, and to those power-users, God bless. For the rest of us, Intro should be avoided—not just because it's obnoxious, but because it's dangerous.
LinkedIn basically hacked iPhone email. Security expert Bishop Fox explains:
Intro reconfigures your iOS device (e.g. iPhone, iPad) so that all of your emails go through LinkedIn’s servers. You read that right. Once you install the Intro app, all of your emails, both sent and received, are transmitted via LinkedIn’s servers.
“But that sounds like a man-in-the-middle attack!” I hear you cry. Yes. Yes it does. Because it is. That’s exactly what it is. And this is a bad thing. If your employees are checking their company email, it’s an especially bad thing.
He lists a whole slew of reasons why this could end in catastrophe, including compromised attorney-client privilege, personal messages stuck on LinkedIn's servers, and their shoddy security track record. Luckily, you have to opt-in to Intro. Don't.