Sunday 1 May 2011

How to Check if your Gmail Account Has Been Hacked or Not??

TRICKS4INDYA always post some awareness article to protect you from hacker. I recently post article on “Secure Yourself at Cyber Café” & Today I am going to share some information on “How to Check if your Gmail Account has been hacked or not??

If you’re worried about email security, here is a step by step guide to help you check and determine if your Gmail account has been hacked or watched/use in any way: -

1.   Find the ‘Last Account Activity’ Section Your Inbox

At the bottom of your Gmail inbox there is a ‘Last Account Activity’ section.  Click on ‘details’ to launch the full blown monitor.

2.   See who has accessed your Gmail account recently

Next, what you’ll see is a table of the most recent activity from your Gmail account.  It shows you 

·        How it was accessed (Browser/mobile etc)
·        Where exactly the IP address is (So you can do some further digging)
·        When it was accessed


If you found some difference means at that date & time you not login to your gmail account as show in Activity Information window then change your passwords with security question immediately.  

3.   Understand the IP addresses – Has your Gmail really been hacked?

If you see IP addresses from different countries, don’t be too quick to panic.  If you use any 3rd party services which hook-up to your Gmail account, they will almost certainly show up in your activity log.  To do your own investigation, you can use 
DomainTools to identify the IP address. This will help you differentiate normal activity and your Gmail account being hacked.

4.   Understand the alerts – Google’s way of highlighting suspicious activity

Google will also do its fair share of monitoring, and will also alert you if it sees suspicious activity both in your inbox, as well as your recent activity log.  When this happens, and the IP addresses look suspicious, it is advisable to play it safe, assume your Gmail account has been hacked, and change your passwords immediately.  

5.   Sign Out All Other Sessions – If you forgot to sign out on a public computer

If you are worried you did not sign out of a public computer, you can use ‘sign out all other sessions’. sign out all other sessions tab found in Activity Information window. This won’t fix any hacked Gmail accounts, but it will resolve any careless mistakes. This is also useful if you happen to lose your mobile phone and you want to ensure your email is not read by others. 


6.   What to do if your Gmail account has really been hacked

The first thing you do is change both your password and security question right away.  Then make sure your new choices are very secure.  Google themselves have some really good tips .  For example in the case of security questions:

·        Choose a question only you know the answer to – make sure the question isn’t associated with your password.
·        Pick a question that can’t be answered through research (for example, avoid your mother’s maiden name, your birth date, your first or last name, your social security number, your phone number, your pet’s name, etc.).
·        Make sure your answer is memorable, but not easy to guess. Use an answer that is a complete sentence for even more security.
For more information you also read my article on “How To Create Strong Password? “.

7.   Always Use Google Gmail’s 2-step Authentication/Verification
This is most important security tool add by Google recently to protect your Gmail account. If you want to save yourself then  enable Gmail 2- step Authentication/Verification. For more detail how to use Gmail 2-step Authentication/Verification read my articleHow to use Google Gmail’s 2-step Authentication/Verification

So, these are the step-by-step guide on fully understanding Gmail’s account activity log, and how to check if your Gmail account has been hacked or not??


Note: This is illegal and is for educational purpose only. Any loss/damage happening will not be in any way our responsibility.

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