Now, when the issue of personal security is especially acute, many of us have even forgotten about virtual security. This is actively used by fraudsters who slip phishing sites on naive users under the guise of official resources to obtain passes, where they require, in addition to personal data, to enter bank card data, and sometimes passwords from Google accounts. Fortunately, such situations are rare, but this does not mean that attackers do not have access to your mail account.
Suspect that someone is active in your Gmail account? Perhaps your suspicions are meaningful.
In fact, Google offers a ton of options for securing accounts for its users. This includes two-factor authentication, electronic security keys, and authorization history. Therefore, if you are worried that someone else has access to your mail, this can be easily checked.
How to see who logged into Gmail
- Open your browser and go to gmail.com;
- Scroll down the incoming messages and next to the postscript 'Recent activities in the account' click 'Details';
Check who went to your mail
- A window with all active sessions will open on the screen – check if the list includes those that you do not recognize (there will be not only devices, but also applications and services that you have opened access to your account);
Here you can not only see who hosted your account, but also block all sessions
- Click 'Log out of all sessions';
- Then – for reliability – go to the section of devices linked to the account and check if there are any strangers among them. If there is one and you want to sign out of all devices in Gmail – click on them and click 'Sign out'.
How to change your Google account password
Now, of course, you need to protect your account in a way that prevents similar situations in the future. First, change your password.
- Follow this link to your Google profile settings;
- Open the 'Personal data' section and scroll to the 'Password' item;
You are unlikely to be able to come up with a complex password yourself, so leave this business to the password managers.
- Open it and set a new password.
It is best, of course, not to invent it yourself, but to entrust the password manager built into the browser – it will create a complex combination and remember it, giving you access to your account on all your devices. These are found in many modern web browsers: in Safari, and in Chrome, and in Opera.
How to set up Google two-factor authentication
Now let's take a look at the account security issues.
- To do this, go to the two-step authentication settings using this link;
Set up two-factor authentication and security dongle
- Click 'Add phone' and your phone number, which will receive verification passwords, and then confirm it by entering the code that will be sent by SMS;
- Turn on the electronic security key Android (we told you how to do this and why you need it here in this article).
How to disconnect apps from Google
Above, we wrote that active actions with the account can be performed not only by devices, but also by third-party applications, access to which you yourself have opened, for example, by passing authorization into them using Google. Even though they do not have access to your account password, they still have the ability to access it and mislead you as to whether someone has access to your correspondence or not. Therefore, I would recommend checking the list of sites and services that have access to your Google account and disable unnecessary ones.
- To do this, follow this link;
- Find the application, site or service that you want to block access;
Deactivate services and applications that have access to your Google account
- Click on it and then click 'Close Access';
- Repeat this manipulation for all other services that you no longer need.
It is actually very difficult to hack a Google account. That is, hackers who want to do this will rack their brains for weeks and months and still will not achieve what they wanted. Therefore, in the overwhelming majority of cases, hacking is not at all. It’s just that cybercriminals try to guess the password for the account or buy in bulk all the combinations that are traded on the black market. It is clear that simple passwords like “qwerty” or “123456” are “cracked” in seconds, which means you need to use something more complex and secure. Well, if you also turn on Google two-factor authentication, you won't have any problems.