//LinkedIn Update

Sorry, but my curiosity got the best of me on this one and I dug a little deeper into the fake profile issue and it seems I only hit the tip of the iceberg before.  I originally found 15 fake information security profiles, but that was because I limited my search to a specific job title in New York.  The set of job titles I’ve identified that are associated with the fake profiles are (for the current title, case left as they used it in the title):

• Information Security Manager
• Information Technology and Services Consultant
• Database Security Analyst
• Security Operations Manager
• IT security Manager
• It Risk Manager
• Information Security Senior Consultant
• System Security Manager

Again, all of the profiles show the “Greater New York Area” as the location.  If you’re doing a search on LinkedIn just choose one of the titles above along with a limitation within 50 miles of the 10001 zip code.  I stopped tracking the companies and universities they used in creating the profiles as it became too large of a list to be useful.  The job descriptions are usually enough to give them away as they are weak and don’t make sense.

Let me go back to my assumption this was scripted, and they suck at scripting.  Case in point:

Let’s take a look at my boy Dwayne (http://www.linkedin.com/pub/dwayne-larson/24/799/720).  In addition to his killer profile photo, check out his past positions.  Seems the script was supposed to randomly choose a company name that started with a “V” for his job between 2002 and 2007…hmmm, it seems to have gone a little haywire here.  And how about my boy Alexander’s title (http://www.linkedin.com/pub/alexander-baldwin/20/b43/a9b) of Security Solutions ManaIT Project Managerger.  Don’t know about you, but I wouldn’t hire a guy who couldn’t spell his own title.

One other interesting twist is the use of recommendations, links to the company website, and information in the summary section.  This all goes to make the profile look more legit.  Take for example our guy Gary (http://www.linkedin.com/pub/gary-jacobson/24/398/b04)…that’s funny, looks just like Ross’ summary, which appears legit (http://www.linkedin.com/in/rossboulton).

Let’s look at some recommendations.  Harry (http://www.linkedin.com/pub/harry-bright/23/904/71b) took the time to recommend his buddy Stuart Michael (tp://www.linkedin.com/pub/stuart-michael/24/1bb/440).  What a nice guy…too bad both are fake.

Finally, some numbers.  I’ve identified 123 fake infosec profiles with connection numbers ranging from 52 to 500+, with the average number of connections at 250 for each profile.  So, does LinkedIn even care?