Gmail (Gmail) is the world’s most popular email platform with over 1 million users worldwide. It has an 18% share of the email client market.
Nowadays, you will find a Gmail account on every smartphone. All important information, from phone contacts to photos, remains linked in Gmail itself. Whether you want to download an app from the Play Store or fill out an online form, a Gmail account is required.
This is the reason why cybercriminals are now trying to commit scams through Gmail accounts. To do this, it uses artificial intelligence (AI). However, users can secure their Gmail account themselves. To do this, some precautions must be taken.
So, today in important news we will talk about the danger of getting a Gmail account hacked? You will also learn that-
How to secure a Gmail account? How to identify if a Gmail account is hacked or not?
Expert: Rahul Mishra, Cyber Security Advisor, Uttar Pradesh Police
Question: How can an email account be hacked?
Answer- Cybercriminals adopt many methods to hack emails. For this, it can follow new patterns every time. Learn from some points below how hackers can hack emails in most cases.
By sending phishing emails or messages
Hackers use phishing emails or messages to hijack email accounts. To do this, they pretend to belong to a government agency or a reputable institution like a bank.
The aim of phishing is to steal your account details and password. Apart from this, malware should be downloaded to your device through the link given in the message. Malware allows fraudsters to gain access to your computer or mobile to steal sensitive information such as your email account and passwords.
Log in with a public device
If you logged in with your email ID through Wi-Fi at a public library, office, or internet cafe and forgot to log out from that device, hackers can take advantage of it. They can steal your account and password.
guess simple passwords
Often, hackers don’t need to put much effort into hacking an email. They can guess the password using your personal information. Such as 12345678, your date of birth, your name or that of your pet.
Question: How dangerous is it to have your email account hacked?
Answer: The email account contains personal and sensitive information. Such as your password, phone number and transaction details.
Even after this, people are unaware of email account security. They feel that securing the email account is not that important. This is why cybercriminals are now targeting email accounts.
Question: How can we identify if an email account has been hacked or not?
Answer – The goal of hackers is to gain access to your sensitive information. It is therefore important to identify your email hack. The sooner you recognize the signs of hacking, the sooner you can secure your data.
You can identify whether an email account has been hacked or not by the signs shown in the graphic below.
Question: How can I secure my email account?
Answer: The best way to protect your emails from hackers is to create strong passwords for all your accounts. Always create a password that is difficult for someone else to guess. Apart from this, other methods can be adopted which can help you secure your email account.
See them in the chart below-
Question: What is a VPN? How can this protect email account from hacking?
Answer: VPN (Virtual Private Network) encrypts internet traffic, thereby keeping your email account information secure. VPN helps protect you from phishing and malware attacks. Apart from that, it keeps your IP address hidden. With this, hackers cannot identify your location.
Question: What to do if email account is hacked?
Answer – Once the email account is hacked, first of all you need to try to recover it. For this, you can follow the steps below.
Step 1- First of all, go to the email account recovery page.
Step 2- Enter your old password and username here.
Step 3- If you have forgotten the password, you will be asked security related questions. After answering these questions, your account will be connected.
Step 4- Apart from this, you can also use recovery email or mobile number. For this, Gmail sends a security code to that number or email ID.
Step 5- After entering the security code, you will be asked to create a new password.
Step 6- After that your account will be connected. Now check your security and change your password.
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In Bikaner, Rajasthan, a person received the APK file of a wedding card from an unknown number on WhatsApp. He couldn’t resist the temptation to open the map and look at it. After around 4 days, Rs 4.50 lakh was withdrawn from his bank account. In fact, it was spam sent by scammers. …