I was reading on Facebook, of all places, about someone who said her LinkedIn account was hacked through a third-party app. Yikes. How do I check what third party apps have access to my LinkedIn account??
Just about every social media network allows third party apps to connect and access some – or all – of your profile and account information. From your address to your friend list, what groups you’re in to how often you post, all of that information we all tend to willingly share with third parties. And then there’s the “let’s simplify login” issue which is where most of these apps sneak into your Twitter, Facebook or LinkedIn account: Rather than establish a separate account for each and every service, we’re all too quick to click on the “Login With Facebook” button or similar.
It never fails to amaze me when I check on my Twitter, Facebook or LinkedIn account how many third party apps have been granted permission to access my data, that’s for sure. For example, when I show you how to check on your LinkedIn account, you’ll see that I had twenty (20!) different third party sites and apps that I’d granted permission to access my own account. That’s a lot of other sites to keep track of, and if one was hacked, it’s entirely believable that they could snag some of my account data without me ever realizing it.
So. So let’s talk about how you can jump onto LinkedIn, check what apps and sites you’ve granted access to your account, and how you can cut ’em off and clean things up! To start, log in and click on your profile pic “mini” image on the top right:
As you can see above, you’ll want to choose “Settings & Privacy” from the Account area. That takes you to a page with lots and lots of different options.
Somewhere down the page, however, is a section labelled “Partners and Services”:
You want to find “Permitted Services” and then click on the word “Change” on the right.
That will open up a window immediately below with a list of every app you’ve connected to your LinkedIn account:
You can see the first three of those I’ve allowed: Newsle, About.me and CES 2018.
Further down there are more, including these two that I don’t even know what they do or how they got on the list in the first place:
Fortunately, it’s easy to remove or retract permission for them to access your account with a single click on “Remove“. No window pops up to confirm, there’s no feedback, the entries just… vanish!
Here’s something to keep in mind too: If you are over enthused chopping apps out from the list, the worst case scenario is that you need to re-authorize one of the sites you visit when you realize it ended up on your chop list. No harm, no foul, no long-term adverse effect. In other words, delete away!
When I’m done, I’ve gotten rid of over 50% of these apps:
Phew. Much better. Now, how about you?
Tip: Ready to become a LinkedIn power user? Check out our extensive LinkedIn help here on the site!
