Email Security

I love gtalk and I use my gmail a lot. But recently, a friend of mine had his gmail hacked, which led to his skype account being hacked too. But having suffered greatly, and even going as far as establishing contact with the hacker, he has since recovered his account and researched much about how you can prevent those pesky hackers from taking your account.

Take it away, KC.

In case you’re not aware, my gmail was recently hacked and LUCKILY, I was able to get it back.

After some research, here are a couple of tips to help you from getting hacked:

1. Simple.
https://mail.google.com/mail/ Use this URL to log into your gmail. The difference is the little “s” after http. Here’s a short explanation why (taken from some blogs on the topic):

“Since the attack relies on sniffing traffic, using SSL or some type of encryption (like a VPN tunnel) would stop Graham in his tracks.”
“…you encrypt your traffic….it’s simple and free…this weird new technology called SSL. Use https://mail.google.com/mail/ and you’ll be fine”

2. Not so simple.
What happens is when you’re using gmail, and navigating other pages, that’s when a hacker can get you by adding a filter into your email and use it to get certain types of incoming mails (for example, mails with the word “password” in them).
To avoid this happening, you need to just periodically check your filters:

Here’s what to do:When logged into GMail, click on the ’settings’ tab in the upper right of the screen. Then check both the ‘Filters’ and the ‘Forwarding and POP’ sections. Make sure every filter and setting is one that YOU put in.

3. Go to Gmail’s “Help” section under Privacy & Security – Protecting Your Account. Check out the tips and use them.

Good luck.

~ by Khaver on March 1, 2008.