I Didn’t Get Hacked Today — Here’s Why

Today I received an interesting message via LinkedIn — it was framed as a job opportunity.

Something immediately felt off. The individual claimed to represent a company, yet they weren’t listed as an employee of that company on LinkedIn, and I couldn’t find the business presence either. That raised a red flag.

Instead of clicking the link they sent, I copied and pasted it into a free analysis tool, VirusTotal. The results came back clean — but even then, I wasn’t convinced. A clean scan doesn’t mean something is safe. It could still be a zero-day exploit, a credential-harvesting page, or part of a longer social engineering chain.

So I chose not to click.

This is a friendly reminder to pause before you click — especially when messages create urgency, opportunity, or excitement. If curiosity gets the better of you, use tools like VirusTotal to inspect links first, but remember: tools reduce risk, they don’t eliminate it.

One careless click can jeopardize:

• Your personal data

• Your family’s security

• Your business or employer

  
  

Trust your instincts. Verify before you engage. Security often starts with saying no.