How to Defend Your Gmail Account from Malicious Hackers: 6 Steps

How to Defend Your Gmail Account from Malicious Hackers: 6 Steps

Are you worried about your Gmail account getting hacked? If you are, you may seem to others like an overly scared wimp who is afraid of life. But you're not. Taking such precautions sets you aside in a better way, because it will make it so much less likely for your account to be hacked.

Steps

1. Never tell anyone your password, with the exception of your parents (If applicable) Like, don't tell even the most trustworthy of friends! Not that they want to cause you harm, but a mere slip of their tongue could give a clue of your password to hackers.

2. Also, what if you're obsessed with let's say, the anime "Death Note"? Let's assume you've been posting tons of stuff about it on Google+ or Twitter. Most obsessed people keep a password related to their obsession. For example, what if you post a ton of stuff about L Lawliet (L), Light Yagami, Nate River (Near), and Mello? Since those four are the smartest characters (from highest to lowest) in Death Note, you might make your password "l>light>near>mello". That makes it SO much easier for a hacker to guess your password. Therefore, as much as you want to, do NOT use a password related to something you like or what you post. Make it an extremely long, nonsensical, and unexpected garble of capital/lowercase letters, numbers, and preferably symbols. Of course, if you know you have a bad memory and won't remember the password, don't make it so long and crazy. You don't want to be locked out of your own Gmail! There are many short but hard-to-crack passwords. And do NOT use your account password on any other accounts. Don't keep any password information for your other accounts on Gmail. Otherwise, the hacker(s) can crack into even more sensitive information, such as your bank account.

3. Enable Two-Step Verification! If a hacker is determined enough, they will eventually succeed. But Two-Step Verification makes it so much harder for them to crack into your account! Not only will they have to guess your password, they will need access to your phone. A text message or voice call with the verification code will be sent to your phone each time someone (or even you) tries to sign in to your account from a non-trusted computer. Unless you have hateful, hacking siblings and/or parents that share your computer, make your computer trusted! Otherwise, you will have to look at your phone and type in the verification code every single time. Sometimes, it's necessary especially if you have hacker siblings, which is a common case. Make every other computer untrustworthy! Like, even if it's your far off uncle's computer! And of course, a backup code will never hurt in case you do not have access to your main phone.

4. Make sure in your Gmail account, the "Alert Preference" option reads "Show an alert for unusual activity". If hackers even with a verification code are doing suspicious things on your account, this will lock them out of your account.

5. Regularly check your Account Activity! Your IP address will be displayed on the bottom. And for the sign in details, it should have your IP address (unless you went elsewhere). Let's say you're in Nevada, and you use Google Chrome. If you checked the account activity and it showed an IP address from Rhode Island and the browser was Mozilla Firefox, you can be sure someone hacked into your account. Just because you set the alert preference to alert you for strange activity doesn't mean you're safe! The most skilled hackers can make their activity seem completely innocent while ruining your account.

6. Assuming someone already hacked into your Gmail account and changed your password, don't lose hope! There is always a chance. If you have a recovery e-mail address, use it to send a message to Gmail about the compromising of your main account. If they take it seriously, your account should be safe in a little while. The other solution if your password was changed is to use your recovery e-mail. It should have received a message stating your Gmail account's password was changed. If you did not change it, it means someone else did! In that message is a link to change your password. Immediately change your password. If the hacker(s) already sent messages to all your contacts (for example, to send them money), CONTACT YOUR CONTACTS AS SOON AS POSSIBLE SO THEY DO NOT SEND THEIR MONEY TO THIS EVIL HACKER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!