My GMail Account Was Compromised
Posted by tech on
October 25, 2010
I usually wake up in the middle of the wee hours of the morning to pee. I also check my emails to see if I have anything regarding my sideline. Imagine the surprise when I saw the total number of new email count at 36. Before, that would have been no surprise because of the flood of Twitter add requests but since that had died down lately, the 36 surprised me so I immediately checked my GMail account to see what emails were there.
That was when I found out there were many bounced back emails. Turned out my GMail account was hacked with some email being sent out to all my contacts containing virgorg. Whew! I had to change my password right away. My previous password was not every strong but this time around, I made sure it stays that way. I did the same thing with my Yahoo! account.
If your GMail account was compromised, here are some things that you need to do and make sure are set within our account’s settings:
Account Security:
Settings -> Accounts and Import -> Google Account Settings -> Change Password [pick a new secure password]
Settings -> Accounts and Import -> Google Account Settings -> Change Password Recovery Options [verify secret question, SMS and recovery e-mail address]
Settings -> Accounts and Import -> Google Account Settings -> Email Address Edit [verify your name and other settings]
Settings -> Accounts and Import -> Google Account Settings -> Change authorized websites [Revoke Access to any sites listed]
Potential Spam:
Settings -> General -> Signature [make sure nothing as been added]
Settings -> General -> Vacation Responder [make sure it's disabled and empty]
E-mail Theft
Settings -> Forwarding and POP/IMAP -> POP Download [disabled]
Settings -> Forwarding and POP/IMAP -> IMAP Access [disabled]
Settings -> Forwarding and POP/IMAP -> Forwarding [disabled or correct address]
Settings -> Filters [no filters that forward or delete e-mail]
Settings -> Accounts and Import -> Send Mail As [make sure it is using your correct e-mail address, delete any unrecognized entries]
