Is it risky to use an extension?
In a word, NO, no more than a system that does not use an extension.
Kanbox relies on a Chrome extension.
Some articles relay the fact that the use of an extension can be detected by Linkedin. In fact, this is both true and false. Linkedin created a piece of code a few years ago to identify certain widespread extensions and automatically display a warning to the user. This piece of code has since been widely commented on and there are fairly simple ways to counter the detection system. Furthermore, this piece of code no longer seems to be evolving on Linkedin's side. Linkedin now prefers to use other means to determine if automation is behind it.
How does Linkedin detect automation?
Linkedin uses various techniques to determine whether an automated system is being used, including:
- Linkedin monitors the frequency of requests: if the visit of profiles is too fast, if the user sends too many messages in too short a time period, it can consider that there is an automation
- Linkedin monitors certain actions in particular and establishes certain limits: the total number of invitations sent per week (between 50 and 200), the total number of messages sent per day, the total number of profile visits per day... If these limits are systematically reached, it can consider that there is automation.
- Linkedin monitors IP addresses. If you use an automated system that is cloud-based, if that system has an IP address that doesn't match your geolocation, Linkedin can see those inconsistencies.
- Linkedin monitors multiple connections from the same browser session. If you have multiple Linkedin accounts and you log out/log back in to switch between them, Linkedin will identify this and may consider that you are not complying with the platform's T&Cs.
Important information
Linkedin's monitoring measures adapt to the type of account. A young account will be closely monitored and will have low usage limits. A free account will generally be more monitored than a premium account. An account that has already had a warning or a temporary restriction will be much more monitored...
It is especially important to stop exporting or having automated actions (with Kanbox or any other tool) for several days if your account has a temporary restriction. An account can have a few temporary restrictions without being banned. But there is a very high risk of permanent ban after 3 or 4 restrictions.
How does Kanbox take care of your account security?
At Kanbox, the security of your account is one of our highest priorities. We have implemented several measures for this. If we take the different techniques used by Linkedin:
- We artificially introduce delays when you export users or when you launch mass actions, in order to mimic human behavior. This is the reason why mass actions can sometimes seem long.
- We have set daily export quotas (80 users/day on Linkedin and 2500 users/day on Sales Navigator) to stay within the limits acceptable by Linkedin. Regarding sending invitations, we display a message to warn you if we consider that you have sent a limit number of invitations. We have not yet introduced limits for messages/invitations because these are actions that you trigger manually. With automations, we will introduce quotas just like for exports.
- All automations and mass actions, which are performed in the cloud, go through a local proxy: Kanbox detects the local IP address of each user, and reserves a proxy located near the user. In addition, Kanbox also retrieves the user agent (the browser signature) of each user and uses the same agent for requests sent to Linkedin. Thus, all requests sent to Linkedin via the cloud have the same browser signature and the same location as those sent by the user's browser.
- We recommend that you log in to Chrome for each Linkedin account to prevent this issue.