Nowadays, e-mail accounts are the keys to our social and work realities. If your email has been hacked, its consequences are severe: identity theft and financial loss. Being a victim of this type of hack, you’ll get to know the possible steps to follow if your email has been hacked. This guide includes information on protecting your email, informing people, and the measures to avoid the risk. Acquire knowledge about a set of measures that should be taken to provide protection against threats on the Internet.

1. Signs Your Email Has Been Hacked

Understanding the signs of a hacked email account can help you act quickly:

• Impossible to receive login alerts from unfamiliar devices.
• Receiving complaints from contacts stating they received spam or phishing emails coming from your account.
• Forwarded emails and any other tailor-made changes in an account.
• Locked out of your account in cases of password changes.

In case you recognize any of these signs, go ahead and protect your account.

2. Steps to Take If Your Email Is Hacked

Secure Your Account

• Change Your Password: This requires you to develop a very strong password that includes letters, numbers, page symbols, as well as capital letters. Avoid reusing old passwords. When it comes to passwords, there’s one more recommendation: use a password manager.
• Enable Two-Factor Authentication (2FA): Enhance the protection applied to your account by following up with the 2FA option. This will make it possible to allow entry in the system only with the second factor.
  Check and Alter Choices in Recovery
• Verify all emails attached to a recovery and phone numbers linked to your account settings. Remind them if they have been interfered with by the hacker.

Analyze the nature of the accounts.

• Check through your sent and received messages for anything that looks a little off. Pay attention to any escalation in spam level that may indicate to you that some of your settings have been tampered with, for instance, automatic forwarding of emails or alteration of e-mail signature.
  Inform Your Contacts
• Inform friends and colleagues about the hacking and identify your account and your new security question and answer. Then tell them to delete any emails by you that they find to be suspicious.

Report the Hack

• Check in with your email service provider and see what it provides in regards to recovery processes. Providers like Gmail, Yahoo, and Outlook provide guidelines on what to do in case the accounts have been hacked.

3. Measures for Keeping the Same from Happening in the Future

• Frequency of Password Change Change the passwords frequently; more so, do not use a single password for all your accounts.
• Public Wi-Fi should be used cautiously. Public Wi-Fi can easily allow criminals to gain access to your data. Employ a VPN since it provides an encrypted connection whenever you are using sensitive accounts on public networks.
• The First Step to Protect Yourself from Phishing: Learn About It Phishing is the practice of hackers seeking to get to your accounts. Be wary of getting messages from people that you do not know and never open links or attachments from them.
• Tabletop cybersecurity exercises Organizations should conduct simulations of responses to email breaches and other cyber threats, such as tabletop scenarios.

4. Recovering from a Hack
a) Report the Incident
Contact your email service provider and file for a hack. Most of the providers have a special division for solving security problems.
Report to law enforcement organizations in circumstances if personal/financial data has been stolen.
b) Look for further violation
To check if your data has been breached, you can use breach-check tools such as “Have I Been Pwned?”

c) Secure Linked Accounts
Because most accounts have an email for recovery, make the other profiles on social media, banking, etc., also safe. At least update passwords, and if possible, ensure the use of two-factor authentication.

5. How to Avoid Getting Hacked in the Future
It is therefore important to be in a position to avoid these common cases of hacking the email accounts.

• Keep your email secure, especially while sending privileged information, by using a secure, encrypted type of email.
• Do not ever log into an account using public Wi-Fi without first connecting to a VPN.
• Often check the activity and modifying options of your email.

Briefing on Cyber Security
More important measures of cybersecurity hygiene include ensuring that all your systems are updated, deleting all your old accounts, and using antivirus. From this perspective, it is crucial to train the employees of the businesses to recognize threats originating from cyberattacks.

Final Thoughts
One day you may be a victim of a hacked email, but understanding what to do can help in minimizing the impact and preventing future occurrences. Remain proactive in protecting your digital assets and adopt best practices to ensure your online safety.