If your email is hacked, you should not panic. Instead, you should follow these steps to reduce any damages and to safeguard your account against against future compromises.
The first thing you should do if you can still access your hacked account is to change the password right away. This should reduce any further access the hacker may have to the account. If you still encounter problems gaining control of the account, then you should contact your email service provider. They should have specific instructions on how to recover a compromised account. Another thing you should do is to let your friends, family and any other online contacts know that your account was compromised. Be sure also to let them know to ignore any messages that are odd.
One of the ways that an email account could be hacked is through malware that was installed on the computer. This often happens when a computer lacks anti-virus protection. If you do not have anti-virus software installed on your device, there are free programs you can use such as Malwarebytes and Windows Defender. Run these programs to find and remove these bugs on your computer that could have led to your account being hacked. It is vital to regularly update your computer as this helps keep your device safe from malware and spyware.
After you have accessed your email account, take a good look at your settings. Make sure that your signature in emails has not been altered. Look at your address book and weed out any unfamiliar email addresses. You should also change the security questions in that email account to prevent the hacker from trying to reaccess your account.
Email providers such as Google and many colleges are now offering an additional tool that you can use to safeguard your email account. They are now utilizing a system of authentication called two-factor authentication. Despite its fancy sounding name, two-factor authentication is a very simple concept. You login in with your password as usual and must then enter a code that was sent to a phone. This method protects your account from unauthorized access even if your email account password was stolen.
As a final note of precaution, you will want to change the password of any sites where you used the compromised email to login into such as Amazon or Facebook for example. If you utilized the same password that was compromised in the mail, you should also change it for other sites or accounts. These accounts may not have been compromised, but it is better to be safe than sorry.
