You will probably have to provide an array of information to prove your identity and regain control of your email. Tell the colleagues, friends, and family in your email contact list that your email has been hacked. Warn them to delete any suspicious messages that come from your account. Also tell them not to open applications, click on links, share credit card information, or send money.
To prevent this, you should take these steps:. Finally, you can put a few simple measures in place to make it less likely that your email account gets hacked again. That will allow you to regain your account and your peace of mind more quickly. All rights reserved.
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Other names may be trademarks of their respective owners. Security Center Malware 4 things to do if your email account is hacked. How to know your email has been hacked You may get an urgent message from a friend or family member who received a suspicious email from you. When you try to log in, you may get a message that your username or password is incorrect. This could mean the hacker changed your credentials to lock you out of your own account.
Your sent-messages folder looks odd. Or, the folder may be sitting empty when you never deleted your sent messages. Strange messages appear on your social media accounts. You email account can act as a gateway into other accounts. Change your credentials. If you do still have access to your account, make these changes right away: Get a new username and password.
Choose a strong password. Prevent hackers from breaking into your accounts again. You can start by avoiding suspicious phishing emails, or links and attachments found in them. This goes for social networks as well. Clicking on dubious links or posts can ultimately lead to the phishing pages or the download of information-stealing malware.
Both solutions detect malicious files and spam, and block all related malicious URLs. Secondary services are ultimately the much more valuable targets in these security breaches. For example, your bank account could easily be the next break-in if the scammer found the info needed to reset your password.
Again, be sure to use a unique password for every site. The risk for follow-up breaches is increased if you use the same password for multiple sites. Streamlined logins via your email or social media accounts should be avoided to further reduce this risk.
However, even varied passwords may not be enough if you have emails in your account that lead directly to linked online vendors. It is a good idea to tell your friends, family, and anyone else on your email contact list that you've been hacked.
During the period when attackers had control of your account, they could have sent dozens or even hundreds of malware-laden emails to everyone you know. This type of phishing attack in turn gives them access to a new set of victims. You should notify your friend lists on other platforms as well. Email may be just one route the attackers take to bait your contacts.
If they breached your social media or messaging apps, fraudulent messages could be sent from each of these. Warning your contacts lets them take steps to ensure their own devices are clean and unaffected.
While your password was the most likely attack route, it's also possible that hackers broke into your account after answering your security questions.
Make sure they are memorable to you, but not obvious to discover through your social media posts or other public info. According to recent Google research, many users choose the same answer to common security questions.
Be sure to employ the multi-factor authentication that many providers allow to protect your logins and password resets. In order to further protect your email, this authentication uses secondary email addresses or text messages.
Use this method since security questions alone are not enough. If you haven't already, contact your email provider and report the hack. This is important even if your hacked email didn't cause you to lose access. Reporting a hack helps providers track scam-based behavior. In addition, your email provider may be able to offer details about the origin or nature of the attack.
You might find that the breach is larger and affects other services you may have. Sometimes it's not worth picking up where you left off. Take a moment to recall: has this email been hacked before? Is your provider not taking steps to mitigate the amount of spam you receive?
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