How often you are worried about security of your email account? Or how often have you tried to find out if someone else has used your account? or someone else is logged into your email account at the same time i.e. concurrent sessions? Or you are not at all worried about your account and consider yourself to be lucky or your password to be too good for anyone to hack?
Even if your password is too strong, still everyone should be careful about the security of his/her account. Gmail has a inbuilt feature inside your account which lets you watch your account with precise information about your Gmail account activity log. There’s a link at the bottom of your Gmail screen (after you are logged in) that shows when your account was used and from where.
If you click on “Details“, it will show you a detailed information relating to your account acivity in past 24 hours. The data includes the time, the way the account was accessed (e.g. browser, toolbar, POP3) and IP address of the places from your account was accessed.
If any of these details show some unusual activity, then you will know that something phishy is going on with your account and then you can take some steps to protect your account before some hacks it completely.
If you think your account has been compromised
You’ll need to change your password and your security question. The first step is to read our suggestions on choosing a good password to make sure that your new password is secure. Then, follow the instructions in How do I change my password? to update your password.
Google provides some more info on this feature in its help section and you can access it here. Do check your account activity logs if you want your Gmail account not to be compromised or hacked.
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{ 12 comments }
I think one of my email account was hacked. I knew it when I logged on to the email and saw that content was not the same. I changed the password asap. I never thought that my email could be hacked. This article is very informative, it’s good to know if we can monitor the security of our email.
.-= Henry´s last blog ..The World Most Polluted River is Citarum River? =-.
@Henry,
Most of us are either so lazy or ignorant that even the passwords set by us are so lame and can be easily guessed by many. In this age of cyber crime growing, everyone should be wary of their email accounts as these are linked to our bank accounts, personal stuff and almost every bit of our personal info. If someone hacks it, its very difficult to protect yourself igf you are not alert.
This is a nice feature provided by Gmail and will help everyone monitor their account. Hope other email providers too bring features like this.
Thanks friend for the tip. Now i can check my account with confidence.
.-= Amal Roy´s last blog ..How to Easily Repair Corrupted Windows 7 Installation =-.
Welcome mate. Glad that you like the tip about Gmail activity log.
Your post is really informative. Once my gmail was hacked……. its great to know that you can monitor security of your email. Thanks, for sharing it.
.-= Shabnam Sultan´s last blog ..The Face on Mars : a myth =-.
@Shabnam
Thank you for your Comment. Everyone should be careful about their email accounts and the way they use it to avoid getting hacked. Hope other email providers too should provide features like this.
Easy way to check what’s going on with other gmail sessions. Thanks for the tip!
Welcome mate. Glad you liked it.
it helps in tracking the Ip logs..
.-= Rajesh Kanuri @ TechCats´s last blog ..How To Solve Missed Schedule Error In Wordpress 2.9 =-.
yes and in addition to IP tracking, it also tells the source and the way Gmail account was accessed.
Good advice here, it’s prompted me to go and change all my passwords again!
.-= Sarah Arrow´s last blog ..Taking delivery of my iPhone =-.
This was a most interesting article. I wasn’t aware that there was a problem, and it was most helpful of you to provide details for diagnosing if there was a problem. Thanks much for the post.
Ray
p.s. I learned of your blog over at the Problogger Community forum.
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