What to Do if Your Email is Hacked?

Emails have become one of the essential means of communication. We also require an email to log in to social media accounts and many other apps. This popularity makes it popular among hackers also. What to do if your email ever gets hacked? Our cybersecurity specialists from Perth provide you with easy tips.

How to determine if your email has been hacked?

At times you may receive a notification displaying this terror-inducing message- “You’ve been hacked.” But we can’t always wait for the message to pop up to know. Given below are some simple yet effective methods to discover if your email has been hacked.

Unable to log in to your account

If you’re unable to log in using the right password after multiple tries, it’s usually a sign you’ve been hacked. The hacker could have changed your password leading to an account lockout.

Sudden performance issues in your PC

If your smoothly working PC randomly starts being slow and unresponsive, it could be a sign of virus infestation. A picture or an attachment that you downloaded from a seemingly innocent mail could have caused the installation of spyware in your system. Spyware could track your online conduct and steal your email credentials

Strange posts start appearing on your social media

Links you don’t remember sharing show up in your timeline. Recommendations for products you may not have even heard about might fill your profile. Since emails are necessary to sign up for any social media site, once your email gets hacked, it’ll be easy for the hackers to control your social media presence.

What to do if your email is hacked?

Once you realise your account is hacked, panic might be your first response. “Hacked” is a scary word, but by taking proper measures, you’ll be able to use your account safely again. Here are the steps to take to tackle email hacking:

Change your passwords

The first step in dealing with hacking is to take the control back. Clear all the saved passwords in your system. Once that’s done, change your password and username. Create a new password that is stronger, unique and is hard to guess.

Enable MFA

Adding MFA makes login time longer, but they also make your account safer. If hackers ever get your credential, enabling MFA will make it almost impossible for them to attain your data.

Alert your contacts

When you realise your account is hacked, let your contacts know so they could take the necessary steps to prevent hacking of their accounts. Request them to ignore all emails sent from your ID till you’ve completed the required remediation.

Check your mail settings

Hackers may have changed your settings, making it essential to ensure your emails aren’t getting auto-forwarded to another recipient. Moreover, confirm your email signature doesn’t contain any suspicious links.

Scan your PC

Do a full system scan to check for the presence of a virus. If a source file is deemed dangerous by the scan, delete the file permanently.

Enable firewall

Make sure firewall options are enabled on your PC. The firewall helps in filtering data online, leading to safer internet browsing.

Install and update anti-virus

If your PC does not have anti-virus software installed, download and install it from a reputable company. Regularly update the existing software if already installed.

It would be wise to avoid downloading or installing files that are blocked by anti-virus software.

These are steps you can take if your email gets hacked. Taking necessary precautions and staying alert are the only ways to minimise the damage caused by hacking. Want to protect your business from the dangers of cyber threats? Contact our specialists or email at cybersecurity@computingaustralia.group. We are 24/7 ready to fix your cybersecurity issues and keep your business protected.

Jargon Buster

Spyware – malicious software that infiltrates your device to observe your activity and steal your sensitive information.
MFA –Multi-factor Authentication – an authentication method that needs the user to provide two or more verification factors to gain access to their data.
Firewall –a network security system that monitors and manages incoming and outgoing network traffic based on a given set of security rules.