Prepare yourself before your Gmail Account gets Hacked!

Yesterday only, one of my friend’s Gmail account got hacked! The reason behind this was, He opted a very easy to guess Password which was jxxxxxxxxxxj, where x denotes his 10 digit Mobile Number!

I know the title of this post seems weird, but still this post consist of things that you must do now, in order to prepare yourself against any future Gmail Account Hack!

No doubt, Gmail offers you robust security (via SSL), provided that you have a Strong Password. It is also recommeneded that you regularly check which IP Addresses and which Services are accessing your Gmail Account.

But consider the case someone gets/guesses your password and your whole account is compromised. In order to get back your account you have to fill an Account Recovery Form. The Account Recovery form requires a whole lot of details, so as to prove you are the actual owner of the Account.

Follow these Simple Steps in order to get complete information about your account:

1. Go to this URL, Sign In with your Gmail Username and Note down all the Services currently associated with your Account. It’s Necessary.

Now go to your Gmail Inbox and Search for Gmail’s Welcome Message, which you got immediately after account creation. Note down the Date of this E-mail.

If you deleted that Particular E-mail than search for the Oldest Possible E-mail and try to get a hint of your account creation date.

If you deleted old E-mails than you have to go to your Secondary E-mail Address and Search for Secondary E-mail Address Confirmation E-mail sent to you by Gmail. Note the date of this E-mail. This step is only applicable if you provided a Secondary E-mail Address at the time of Account Creation.

2. For other services like Orkut – Look for the Date of your First Scrap. For Blogger – Look for the Date of your First Post.

You have to look for possible creation Date in every Associated Account and Note them down.

Gmail will ask you about all the Associated Services with your current Username and also about the Account Creation Date. If you’re not certain about some of the dates, closest estimate will also work.

Now here are some more things for which you have to gather information:

• The Confirmation Code that was sent to your Secondary E-mail Address.
• Note Down the E-mail Addresses of Frequently Contacted Persons/Organizations.
• If you have created Labels for E-mails, than Note down the names of these Labels too.
• If you have Orkut associated with your Account, than you have to provide the URL of your Orkut Profile.
• Your Blogger Blog URL

The above are the most important things that you must Note down in a piece of Paper and keep it in a safe place. If your account is compromised in near future, only these details will help you to get your account back.

Also make sure to modify any details in this paper accordingly, if you make any changes in your Account.

So Prepare yourself right now!

Category: Google, Security