💔 From Being Hacked to Being Reborn: How I Rebuilt My LinkedIn Identity in 48 Hours #
“In just a few clicks, 32 years of my professional life disappeared. But in 48 hours, I chose to rise.” — Dr. Hari Thapliyaal
🔹 The Day I Lost Everything #
Recently, I experienced something no professional should ever have to endure: my LinkedIn account was hacked.
On 30-Apr-25, I received an email from LinkedIn saying my password had been changed, followed by another saying my email ID was updated. These went to my personal inbox, which I rarely check—and like most of us, I usually ignore LinkedIn emails.
I didn’t realize something serious had happened until 4-Jun-25, when I tried logging in and was met with a 404 error. I tried multiple devices and even my business email, but couldn’t access the account. When I attempted to create a new LinkedIn account with my office email, it worked—confirming my original account was gone.
When I finally regained access with LinkedIn’s help, I was stunned to find that while my connections and received recommendations were intact, everything else had been completely erased:
- My profile photo
- 30+ years of experience entries
- Dozens of certifications
- A well-crafted About Me section
- My skills (100+)
- All articles, posts, shares, and likes
- Even recommendations I had written for others
- Membership in groups and communities
- Years of work history, projects, and achievements
- Countless comments and engagements
It felt like watching your life’s work go up in digital smoke.
🔹 The Emotional Toll #
This wasn’t just a hacked account.
This was my professional identity, my public legacy, and a living archive of impact that had taken decades to build.
I felt:
- Helpless, because I couldn’t undo what was already lost
- Angry, because of how easily this could happen to anyone
- Disheartened, because rebuilding felt overwhelming
- And yet, a deep sense of clarity emerged.
I realized: I can either dwell on the loss, or define what happens next.
🔹 My Plan of Action #
Once I calmed my nerves, I decided to rebuild — not just recover. But I wanted to do it fast, methodically, and with help.
Step 1: List What Was Lost #
I made an inventory:
- Experience
- Education Details
- Many Dozens of Certifications Entries
- Skills Entries
- Projects Entries
- About Me
- Publications Entries
- Blogs
- Post Entries
- Volunteer work Entries
Step 2: Get Support #
Before I proceed I accepted that there is irrecoverable loss from the hack. I made the list of that as following.
- linkedin blogs,
- linkedin post entries.
- linkedin like/comment/share entries.
- linkedin recommendations I had written for others.
Then, I reached out to ChatGPT with my 14-page CV, and said:
“Please help me rebuild my profile — one section at a time.”
And we did exactly that. For each section/subsection I need to be provide well craft prompt.
🔹 Rebuilding in Just 2 Days — One Section at a Time #
With ChatGPT’s help, here’s how I tackled each piece:
| Section | Action Taken |
|---|---|
| ✅ About Me | Rewrote a powerful, SEO-optimized summary of my career, vision, and expertise |
| ✅ Experience | Reconstructed all key roles with dates, achievements, and relevant skills |
| ✅ Education | Listed all degrees from B.Sc. to Doctorate with research focus |
| ✅ Certifications | Selected the top 15+ from 47 total and formatted with links |
| ✅ Skills | Curated 50 impactful skills aligned with AI, PM, NLP, Leadership |
| ✅ Volunteer Work | Showcased my NGO, mentoring, and social contributions |
| ✅ Projects | Added research, industry, and data science projects with results |
| ✅ Publications | Included books, theses, blogs, and GitHub projects |
| ✅ Security | Enabled 2FA, updated credentials, and took regular backups |
Time taken: Just under 48 hours. Help used: My CV, ChatGPT’s structure and feedback, and a relentless mindset.
🔹 What I Gained That I Never Had Before #
Ironically, this hack made me relook at my own narrative. While I lost data, I gained:
- A clearer voice
- A more focused profile
- Stronger security awareness
- And a deeper connection with my own journey
In the process, I reclaimed ownership over my identity — consciously, creatively, and confidently.
🔹 My Advice to You #
- Take backups of your LinkedIn profile every quarter. I am still not sure whether from this data whether Linkedin allow to restore or not.
- Enable Two-Factor Authentication immediately
- Keep your Detailed CV or bio updated and accessible offline
- Invest in your personal website as a second source of truth, if nothing else, at least GitHub.io is good.
- Never let a loss define you — let your response define you
🔹 I’m Back — And Stronger #
Without AI, I would have never been able to rebuild my LinkedIn profile in just 48 hours (2 days - actually it took me approx 16 hours of prompting and updating the profile). It is complex, memory intensive work and I could have taken me 6 months without AI.
I rebuilt my LinkedIn profile not just as an archive — but as a living expression of who I am today.
If you’ve been through something similar, know that you can come back too.
Let’s connect. Let’s collaborate. Let’s create something meaningful.
👉 [LinkedIn Profile Link] 📩 Email: hari@dasarpai.com 🌐 https://dasarpai.com
💬 Want to Talk? #
Feel free to DM me if you:
- Need help rebuilding your profile
- Want to explore AI, NLP, or Project Leadership
- Or just want to talk about turning setbacks into stories
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