If you’ve ever had your house broken into you’ll know the feeling. It’s not the loss of material goods that spooks you, it’s the feeling of violation, that your personal space has been entered by a stranger.

And this is what it feels like if you have a hacked email account. It doesn’t always lead to you losing money and often it is a problem that can be remedied pretty easily but it can feel as if someone has accessed your precious thoughts. Your emails with family members or your partner.

But there are lots of easy steps you can take to prevent this from happening. Here is how.

1. Change Your Password Regularly 

It is important to ensure that you don’t keep the same password for years on end and that you don’t use the same password for everything. This makes it easy to hack. 

Instead, change your password at regular intervals and avoid simply adding an extra number of changing one of the letters, make a completely new password to ensure that it is secure. Remember the longer the password, the better. 

If you have trouble remembering passwords don’t write them down in a book that can be easily obtained if someone was to break into your house. 

You could try using a program that automatically generates strong and secure passwords for you so that you don’t need to remember them. These can usually be accessed with touch ID or another method of authentication. 

2. Use Two Factor Authentication

Another security tip is to prevent email hacking is to ensure that you authenticate your login on a separate device. For instance, if you login into your emails on a desktop computer or laptop you must enter a code that is sent to your phone.

Or if you access your emails on your phone then you must enter a code sent to your tablet. 

This means any intruder must have access to both devices which might be unlikely. It is also the case that if an intruder does have your password and tries to login you will be notified straight away and can also see the location. 

If someone is trying to login into your email from thousands of miles away then you will know this not a legitimate attempt and you can prevent the log in from your phone or tablet. And then you can change your password to ensure that you are secure. 

3. Never Give Your Password Out to Friends or Family

Sure we all like to think we trust our friends but you might not always know what your friends’ security arrangements are.

They, for instance, might have a computer or phone that is full of virus’ or they might sell their devices on to buy new ones without properly wiping all of the data. 

If for some reason a friend or family member does need access to your email account then be sure to set up a temporary password for them that you can change back when they have finished. Alternatively, you could simply log in for them and allow them to do what they need to do before logging them out yourself.

4. Ensure You Have a Recovery E-mail Address 

It can be annoying if you only want to have one email address but it is important you have a secondary account. This gives you the means to recover your primary email if it is hacked or the hacker attempts to change your password so that you no longer have access.

A secondary email account can also be a good idea as it means you can spread some of your more personal emails around to ensure that if one account is compromised the other will not be affected. 

If you have a Gmail hacked account or a Yahoo Mail hacked account then it can be wise to also have accounts with different email providers to ensure maximum security. 

5. Keep Your Phone Number Up to Date 

This can be difficult if you travel around the world a lot or you are forgetful and often lose your phone and need a new one but it is an important security step to take.

To recover an email account you are often required to have connected a secondary device like a phone number to your account. You will then be sent an SMS to confirm the account is yours.

If you yourself forget your password then you will need a phone number to get back into your account. 

Hacked Email? Precautions Are Easy To Take

Having your emails hacked might not seem like a big deal and more akin to a prank but as more and more of the world goes online and we do more of our business online, security is becoming a vital issue.

You wouldn’t leave your house with your door unlocked so why would you log in to your email without taking the right steps? 

Taking precautions against hacked email can be a pain. It takes a while to set everything up but it is important to guard against future threats should the worst happen. Be sure to keep your phone number updated and make use of two-factor verification that most email providers now offer. 

Do not use a simple password or give it out to anyone as you don’t know what kind of protections they have on their own devices and if you can try to change your password regularly. You could even try to use software that randomizes your password. 

To read more about security and how you can protect yourself against online threats be sure to check out other articles on our site. 

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