In this post, I will teach you how to protect your email account from getting hacked in a very simple and easy to understand manner. The tips provided in this post not only applies to your email account, but can also be used to protect any other online account such as your bank logins, Paypal or your social networking account. Nowadays, I get a lot of emails from people where most of them ask me for help on getting back their email accounts. This is because, they have simply fallen victims and have got their email accounts hacked!
Today, it is a common problem for many Internet users to have their email accounts compromised by hackers. But this arises one BIG question in my mind!
“Is it so easy to hack an email account? OR Is it so difficult for people to protect their email account from getting hacked?”.
If this is the case, then what is the reason for many people to lose their accounts?
The answer is very simple. They do not know how to protect themselves from getting hacked! In fact, most of the people who lose their online accounts to hackers are not the victims of hacking but the victims of trapping. They get hacked not because they are hacked by some expert hackers, but because they are fooled to such an extent that they themselves give away their password.
Are you confused? If so continue reading and you’ll come to know…
Now I will mention some of the most common pitfalls by which people often fall victims and get their accounts compromised. In addition to this, I will also give information on how to avoid these pitfalls and stay protected.
1. Website Spoofing (Phishing Scam)
Website spoofing, also known as phishing is the act of creating a fake website with the intention of misleading the visitors. The website will be created by a different person or organization (other than the original) especially for the purpose of cheating. Normally, the website will adopt the design of the target website and sometimes has a similar URL.
For example a spoofed website of Yahoo.com appears exactly same as Yahoo Website. So, most people would believe this as the original site and lose their passwords. The main intention of spoofed websites is to fool users and take away their login details. For this, the spoofed sites offer fake login pages. These fake login pages resemble the original login pages of sites like Yahoo, Gmail or Facebook. Since they resemble the original login page, people believe that it is true and give away their login details to the hackers by trying to login to their accounts.
Solution:
- Never try to login/access your online account from the sites other than the original site.
- Always type the URL of the site in the address bar to get into the site. Do not click on a hyperlink to enter the site.
2. By using Keylogger (Spyware)
The other commonly used method to steal password is by using a Keylogger. A Keylogger is nothing but a spyware. The detailed description of keylogger and its usage is discussed in the post How to Use Keyloggers. If you read this post you’ll come to know that it is too easy to steal the password using a keylogger program. If you just access your account from a computer installed with keylogger, you definitely lose your password. This is because the keylogger records each and every keystroke that you type on the computer’s keyboard.
Solution:
Protecting yourselves from a keylogger scam is very easy. Just install a good anti-spyware program and update it regularly. This keeps your PC secure from a keylogger. For more information, you may read my other post on How to Protect your Computer from keyloggers?
3. Accessing your Email from a Public Place
Do you access your email from public places like cyber cafes? If so, you are definitely under the risk of losing your password. In fact, many people lose their email account in cyber cafes. For the owner of the cyber cafe, it is just a cakewalk to steal your password. For this, all he need to do is install a keylogger program on his computers. So, when you login to your email account from this PC, you give away your password to the cafe owner. Also, there are many Remote Administration Tools (RATs) which can be used to monitor your browsing activities in real time.
This doesn’t mean that you should never use cyber cafes for surfing the Internet. I know, not all the cyber cafe owners will be so wicked. However, it is recommended not to use public places for accessing confidential information. If it comes to the matter of security never trust anyone, not even your friend. I always use my own computer to login to my accounts so as to ensure the safety.