Your professional profile is a data harvester’s dream — your employer, job history, location, education, and daily activity are all public by default. LinkedIn sells your professional data to advertisers. There is no guarantee your personal data may not be accessed, disclosed, altered, or destroyed in the event of a breach. LinkedIn also retains data even after account deletion. Plan accordingly.
DO / DON’T
DO:
- Review your connections often — make sure you’re not sharing information with people who no longer need it
- Consider your profile picture carefully — business attire if using one at all; not in uniform. Profile picture is optional.
- Ensure family members take similar precautions
DON’T:
- Use an email account associated with personal banking, finances, or important accounts — create an email specifically for LinkedIn
- Connect with people you don’t know or trust
- Link to or from other platforms (Facebook, Twitter, etc.) or log in using them — these aggregate and combine your data across ecosystems
Account Preferences
Path: Me > Settings & Privacy > Account Preferences
- Profile Information → Name, location, industry: Review carefully — do not include previous names or maiden names
- Site Preferences → People also viewed: Set to No (unless actively job hunting — then temporarily Yes)
- Syncing options → Sync calendar: Remove all synced calendars and contacts
- Partners & services: Ensure no connected accounts
- Account management: Do not transfer connections from other accounts
Sign In & Security
Path: Me > Settings & Privacy > Sign in & security
- Review all emails and phone numbers on your account — attackers change this first to lock you out
- Where you’re signed in: Check for fraudulent active sessions and terminate unrecognized ones
- Enable Two-Step Verification
Visibility
Path: Me > Settings & Privacy > Visibility
- Profile viewing options: Select Private mode
- Edit your public profile: Turn public visibility OFF
- Who can see or download your email address: “Only visible to me” — do not allow export
- Profile visibility off LinkedIn: Select No
- Profile discovery using email address: Select Nobody (or 2nd degree connections if job hunting)
- Profile discovery using phone number: Select Nobody
- Representing your organization and interests: Not recommended
- Manage active status: “Your connections only”
- Mentions or Tags: Select No
- Followers: “Your connections” only
Communications
Path: Me > Settings & Privacy > Communications
- Invitations to connect: “Only people who know your email address or appear in your Imported Contacts list”
- Messages: Enable message request notifications to control incoming messages
Data Privacy
Path: Me > Settings & Privacy > Data privacy
⚠ WARNING: LinkedIn shares your data with third-party research partners. These are the settings that control it.
- Manage your data and activity: Periodically review all account changes
- Salary data on LinkedIn: Do NOT provide
- Personal demographic information: Do NOT provide
- Social, economic, and workplace research: Do NOT enable — this shares your data with third-party partners
Job Seeking Preferences
- Job application settings: Do NOT upload your resume to LinkedIn — apply directly via company website instead
- Commuter preferences: Do not enter a complete address
Other Applications
- Permitted services: Verify no services have been granted access to your LinkedIn profile or network data
- Microsoft Word: Ensure it does not have access to your work experience descriptions
Advertising Data
Path: Me > Settings & Privacy > Advertising Data
- Profile data for personalizing ads: Select No
- Interest categories: Select No
- Data collected on LinkedIn: Select No for each subcategory — Education, Job information, Employer — deselect all
- Third-party data: Select No for each subcategory
Your Profile
Path: Me > View Profile > pencil icon (top right)
- Do NOT use photos of yourself for your profile or header photo — these are public
- If using a personal picture: set visibility to “Connections” only
- Do not add phone number, birthdate, or address
- To remove a Mention: More icon → Remove mention → Remove
- To remove a Tag: Tag icon on photo → X next to tag with your name
Mobile (iPhone/Android)
When posting:
- iPhone: Post → under name → arrow → “Connections only” or “Group members” → Advanced Settings → Disable comments
- Android: Same as iPhone except toggle “Off” for comments in Advanced Settings
Start with Visibility settings — set your profile to private mode and turn off public profile visibility. Your professional life doesn’t need to be indexed by every scraper on the internet.