Email Hacking is now unfortunately very common. Cases of which i will encounter frequently. Thankfully, there is more awareness of email hacking and most of your friends will realise that you haven’t all of a sudden started up a Viagra sales business! If they are nice they will even send you an email warning you that it would seem you have been hacked. Apart from an email from someone on your contact list or perhaps a strange email bounce back message, it may be sometime before you even know you have been hacked.
Firstly, if you have been hacked or in fact even if you haven’t been hacked, change your password and change it to something with some complexity, run a scan with your anti virus program and allow Windows to install any updates/security patches. Feel free to give us a call if your are still concerned.
Email hacking can be avoided:
1. Complex password – When changing your password most providers give some indication as to whether or not the new password you have chosen is strong but as a general rule make it 8 or more characters, a mix of upper and lower case with numbers and where possible something non-alphanumeric (For example: !, $, #, or %). Avoid names or places or anything personal to you. Try to change your password regularly.
2. Good up to date anti virus program – See my blog post on this by clicking here and I would suggest downloading Malwarebytes, you can see an image and link at the bottom of my site (the free version is fine). Update and run a scan of this. An email password can be obtained via a keylogger trojan on your PC.
3. Different passwords for different accounts – i.e. don’t use your email account password for other things. Not all websites are trustworthy or secure, if you have signed up for something using exactly the same details you have used for your email account there is a chance someone will give those credentials a go on the off chance it gets them into your email account.
4. Be cynical about sites asking for your login details. Email hacking is often just a con. Like your bank card PIN, never give out your password. Some websites are purely dummy sites set up to steal your passwords. If something looks off don’t input your login details. Run an anti virus scan and reload your browser.
5. 2 step verification – now being offered by most email providers. For example, here is a link to the gmail instructions for this: Gmail 2 Step Verification. By adding a mobile number to your account Google ( in this case) will require a verification code to be input, which would have been text to your phone, should there be any major changes to your account.
For further reading:
http://www.theguardian.com/technology/2014/feb/03/what-to-do-email-hacked-how-to-prevent
http://askleo.com/email_hacked_7_things_you_need_to_do_now/
If you are worried or concerned please give me a call and I will be happy to help.
Herts Computer Services was set up by Iain Murray to supply straight forward IT support to everyone according to their needs; individuals, consultants working from home and small to medium sized businesses. 