It can be hard to tell if your email has been hacked, but the most telling sign is unusual account activity such as suspicious login attempts or spam emails sent from your account.
Most of us find it difficult to comprehend why somebody would hack our emails. The simplest explanation is that cybercriminals want to gain access to sensitive information that can be found in your email messages. They can use your email account to contact your friends, family and coworkers requesting they send money, divulge private information or click a link that downloads malware, spyware or a virus. They can also use your email to create new accounts or change the login information for your existing accounts through password resets.
Here’s how to tell if your email has been compromised.
Suspicious Login Attempts
Check your email for unusual account activity. That can include receiving password reset notifications that weren’t triggered by you. If you receive a password reset notification for your email account, it’s likely that a cybercriminal is trying to hack into it. It may also be worth checking your password, recovery email and security questions in your email account settings. If any of them have been changed, your account may be compromised.
Unable to Log In Using Your Credentials
If you try to log into your account using the credentials you’ve used before and they’re not working, it’s possible that a cybercriminal gained access to your account and changed your email password. This is frequently one of the first steps they take after gaining access to your email account so they can take full control.
Unfamiliar Login Locations
Most email providers allow you to check your recent login history. Every device linked to a network is given an IP address, which is a lengthy string of numbers. Look for unfamiliar IP addresses or locations. You’ll typically be able to see the location and the type of device that was used to log in to your account. If you use Gmail, you can check your recent sign-in activity here.
Your IP addresses will usually repeat themselves if you regularly access the internet from the same networks. It can be a clue that a cybercriminal has gained access to your email account if you see that your email has been accessed from a number of different IP addresses than what you usually see. If you’re unsure of what your IP address is, simply Google search “What is my IP address.”
Spam Emails Were Sent
It’s likely that if a cybercriminal has accessed your email account, they’re sending spam emails to others from your email address. If you receive messages from your contacts wondering why you’ve been sending them spam, be sure to investigate immediately.
What to Do If Your Email Gets Hacked
If you suspect your email has been hacked, you should change your password immediately, enable multi-factor authentication, check your email settings and warn your contacts.
Change your password
Any suspicious activity on your email is an indication to change your password immediately. When creating your new password, make sure that it’s strong and unique. If you’re having trouble coming up with a strong password, use a password generator.
Take it an extra step by storing your passwords in a password manager. A password manager is a tool that stores your passwords in an encrypted vault. Password managers also have a built-in password generator to help you create strong and unique passwords for every account.
Enable multi-factor authentication
Cybercriminals can quickly crack a weak password, but using Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA) can stop them from fully gaining access to your email account. When you have MFA enabled, access to your email account is only permitted after presenting verification factors in addition to your password to prove the person is who they claim to be.
Check your settings
When cybercriminals access an email account, they can make changes to the settings that further jeopardize your security. Fully inspect your email account settings to ensure that the recovery email or security questions weren’t altered.
Warn your contacts
Inform your contact list that your email has been hacked. Additionally, warn them against opening applications, clicking links or sending money that was supposedly requested from you.
Protect Your Email From Being Hacked
Using a password manager can improve the security of your online accounts, making it much more difficult for cybercriminals to access them. Gain peace of mind knowing that your email password is safe in a secure password vault that only you can access. Interested in experiencing how password managers work? Start a free 30-day trial.
Tim Tran
Tim Tran is a contributing writer for Keeper Security. He is well-versed in data analytics and content creation with a passion for cybersecurity. His goal is to inform others about the current trends within the cybersecurity industry in a simplified fashion. Tim’s blogs aim to protect people and businesses against cyber threats and teach them the importance of password security. Tim has a B.S. in digital marketing from DePaul University.
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