How To: Managing Your Google and Gmail Security

Facebooktwittergoogle_plusredditpinterestlinkedinmail

If you use Gmail you probably store a lot of important personal information in your account, such as photos, files, and calendar information. This article discusses the ways in which your account could be comprised, and lists some steps that you can take to help protect your account.

Hacker Methods

Hackers can get access to your account if you don’t take advantage of important security rules.

Below are some common ways that hackers are able to access your account:

Using the same password on more than one account: You use your Gmail username and password to sign in to another account. If that site is hacked and your information stolen, the hacker now has access to all of your Gmail information.

Phishing: Phishing is a scheme in which a hacker sends you an email that directs you to a fake website that looks legitimate, such as a fake commerce or banking website. After you enter your account login information on this fake website, the hacker steals it and uses it to access your account.

Malware: Malware is infected software designed to steal your passwords as you type, or this software accesses them from your browser’s cache.

Brute Force: You use a username and/or password that’s easy to guess like your first name and birth year. A hacker tries a bunch of different possible combinations until they guess right. So don’t use something like your name, your children’s names, or place of birth, or anything else that is easy to guess.

How to Protect Your Google Account

The easiest and best thing to do is to choose unique passwords for your most sensitive accounts (email, financial, and social media), since these accounts hold a lot of personal information.

The following is a list of other things you can do to protect your Google security:

Don’t reuse passwords and change them often: Never reuse passwords for any of your important online accounts and change your passwords often, at least once ever six months. If you suspect one of your accounts may have been compromised or are at risk, change them immediately.

Don’t give out your Gmail login information: Never respond to anyone who you don’t know asking for your Google username or password. If you believe you have received a phishing email, you can report it by doing the following:

  1. From Gmail, click the down arrow next to Reply at the top-right of the message pane for the message you want to report.
  2. Select Report Phishing.

If you responded and can no longer access your account, go to the Google Account Recovery page: https://www.google.com/accounts/recovery?hl=en.

Use the Advanced Sign-In Security: Google’s two step verification process requires your password, plus a code received via text message on your phone. This makes access to your Google account much more secure. To sign up for advanced sign-in security, do the following:

  1. Click your name or picture in the upper right corner of the screen and then click Account.
  2. At the top, click Security.
  3. In the Password box, click Setup next to 2-Step Verification.
  4. Go through the setup process.
  5. Review your settings and add backup phone numbers.

 

Get Private Wifi   Protect your personal information.
Get DataCompress   Cut your mobile data usage.

Jared Howe

Jared Howe is PRIVATE WiFi’s Senior Manager, Product Marketing Communications. Working in high tech for over 15 years, Jared currently lives in Seattle with his wife, daughter, and their two cats.

4 Responses

  1. Helen Bates says:

    I got conned recently by a cryptocurrency trader to who I got connected online. It got me depressed for weeks until a friend of mine told me about Cyberwallfire, a team of professional hackers who helped him to recover his stolen bitcoins two years ago. I contacted them immediately and provided all the information they asked for, and within 48 hours, all the money that I lost in bitcoins investing in a fake cryptocurrency platform was recovered completely. I’m super excited and decided to share this information with everyone. Cyberwallfire was very helpful and quick in recovering my funds, they are very efficient and trustworthy. I urge everyone who has previously been conned online to reach out to them to recover their money. Reach them directly at cyberwallfire(@)techie.com

  2. Theft of cryptocurrencies has grown into a problem that’s difficult to solve. Criminals are finding more and more ways to get their hands on digital assets, and there is no real way to prevent it altogether. If you have lost your crypto coins due to theft, scam or fake ico then i will advice you proceed to immediately open a detailed case with asset recovery experts at support@claimpayback.com of what steps you can take in order to recover them. they typically deal with cases above 100k or 5 btc.Theft of cryptocurrencies has grown into a problem that’s difficult to solve. Criminals are finding more and more ways to get their hands on digital assets, and there is no real way to prevent it altogether. If you have lost your crypto coins due to theft, then this guide will give you an idea of what steps you can take in order to recover them.

    The first hurdle that you have to overcome when it comes to recovering stolen cryptocurrency is discovering where it was stolen from. You also have to identify who stole your crypto, and in order to do that, you’ll need tools like blockchain analysis software.

  3. JACOB says:

    Please beware there are many fake bitcoin mining/clouding out there, I have been a victim once but now a certified blockchain consultant and I know better. The whole plan was so smooth I could not doubt it. Bitcoin is actually a great investment option but one thing I discovered over time is that it is not possible to mine bitcoin so don’t be deceived. I invested $25000 on a particular website called eurekaminingblock, I monitored the profit yielding but was told to open a new blockchain account to receive my payout. A public wallet was imported into the account and I was made to believe that was my profit. The bitcoin was labelled non spendable and it took me 2 years to be able to access it without the knowledge of the company. The non spendable bitcoin is the scam out there now and a lot of people are falling victim of it. I found CM (a recovery expert and trader) on Quora who helped me access a significant part of my investment together with the profit without the knowledge of the company. You can reach him through his email: (fastrecoveryagent@gmail.com)

  4. Carolinew0081 says:

    I’m happy to let you know you can easily get back your stolen assets and funds when you lookup (fastrecoveryagent@gmail.com) for an amazing fund retrieval assistance. This agent got back my stolen USDT with ease and without hidden fees

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.