How to Know if Your Gmail was Hacked in 5 Steps

A lot of your personal information and correspondence is stored in our email account. You can tell a lot from a person not just from their trash but also from their mail. Information about their work, finances, family, friends and interests, can all be seen just by browsing through their email. While this is very illegal, there are a lot of unscrupulous individuals who could hack your Gmail account. Even if you are taking online safety measures, hackers sometimes find their way in. Here are 5 steps to find out if your Gmail was hacked.

Step 1. Check your Last Account Activity

Pay special attention to the time of the last activity. For example, if it says 24 hours ago and you know you have not checked your mail within that time, then you’ll know that your mail has been compromised.

Step 2. Review your Gmail Account login sessions

Click on the details link on the Last Account Activity so that you can have a more detailed view of your sessions. Pay attention to:

• Access Type – Tells you if a browser, mobile or unknown device was used to access your email.
• Location (IP Address) – Your computer is assigned an IP address (ex. 174.128.205.108) when you connect to the Internet. It may vary per connection but should be similar, specially the first three digits. Note that if you access your email in a different location the IP address will also change.
• Date/Time – This will show the exact date and time that your email was accessed.
• Alert Preferences – Make sure this is always turned on to show alerts for unusual activity.

Step 3. Look out for Google alerts for suspicious activity.

If your account has been compromised, Gmail will show the activity highlighted in RED. If you see this, change your password and security question immediately.

Step 4. Understanding the IP address

If you see an unfamiliar IP, you can check it using Domain Tools to find out where your email was accessed from. Simply type the suspicious IP address and click on “lookup”.  This will tell you the location and Internet provider used to access your account. If this is within the United States, you will also see an abuse link so you can report the activity.

Step 5. Sign Out All Sessions

If you accessed your email from your office or a public computer, clicking on “Sign out all other sessions” ensures that you are logged out from other computers and mobile devices as well.

If you suspect that your Gmail account has been hacked, first thing you need to do is change you security question and password. Make sure you have a strong password and a security question that can not be easily guessed or researched through your social networks like your school or name of your pet.  If changing your password does not seem to work, it is likely that your computer is infected with spyware.  If that is the case, contact an online computer repair specialist to get the infection removed properly.

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