I Denied Your Linked-In Request

Good Evening, Socks here. As I have been involved in social media and particularly Linked-In I have been offered connection requests from a multitude of valuable and worthwhile individuals, but very few are accepted.

It’s not because you are bad or even offensive in any way, the bottom line is…. I owe my connections the security of knowing that I won’t inadvertently expose them to nuisances often associated with treating LinkedIn like Facebook.

Well, you might be asking yourself what do you mean Socks? this is a professional platform ?! While this may be true, it is also a recruiting tool, and let’s be honest, there are a few people that we know that use LinkedIn as a business card and sometimes a social platform.

So what? , What's the issue with Linkedin being used like Facebook, the more connections, the better my opportunity to connect with others in my profession.

Have you ever thought about the exposure that you receive or provide with each new Linkedin contact? I’m no spy but I want my connections to be actual people that I have some actual real connection with. There is a trust factor, and because of this assumed trust I want to ensure that I’m not exposing fellow Information Security professionals to unnecessary exposure, by those who would abuse the connection with things such as :

Mass Marketing, Job Invitations far outside of the scope of the target audience (think administrative assistant position being advertised to Mathematicians), people who are using Linkedin as a means to recruit for illicit activities( some nation-states leverage Linkedin to target U.S.personnel in various positions in order to gain information and disrupt American lives)

We should all be highly selective in our Linkedin requests. If you are looking to be a connection mine, let's have coffee, let's meet in some way, send me an email, and let's have an actual relationship, before we have a virtual relationship.

In closing, don't take it personally if I don’t connect with you on Linkedin, there are a lot of opportunities, and I owe my connections, the additional security as I would provide to you if you were my connection.

Reach out via email, tweet(@nicolaismith1) or insta… Talk soon … Socks