Email security reminder
May 27, 2010 7:53:26 GMT
Post by CharlieChomper on May 27, 2010 7:53:26 GMT
This isn't so much an article-related thread, so much as a reminder to be very careful when it comes to securing your email account.
Someone close to me just had their Gmail account broken into (the point of entry still remains under investigation and unknown and the company has been notified of it) and after spending the better part of a morning attempting to even get their account back (plus changing passwords, and other security measures) as well as being told it will be yet another day before they may begin to send out or receive emails (or be considered for removal from the company's "blacklist"), I thought it might be a good time to remind people to be careful when it comes to their accounts.
With Gmail, there had historically been a problem with some spammers causing problems through filters--so, if you're using Gmail, you may want to regularly check not just your filters (you may not have had any set up, but you still should check them), but also check the login information as to when and where was the last time someone access the account.
Likewise--and this applies to any type of account--it's not a bad idea to regularly change passwords (typically, it can be every month to three months), and to make sure to clear out your cookies, cache, and history following a "session" in which you may have had to login or access something sensitive (especially if accessing your email through a browser). It's possible for thieves to gain access to your accounts through those types of files or for some sites to contain what are known as "cookie grabbers".
On a related note, you may want to consider keeping cookies disabled unless they're absolutely needed (such as logging into some sites/forums/web-based email) as a further precaution.
I really don't want to see anyone have to go through the issues in having had an account compromised in some way.
Someone close to me just had their Gmail account broken into (the point of entry still remains under investigation and unknown and the company has been notified of it) and after spending the better part of a morning attempting to even get their account back (plus changing passwords, and other security measures) as well as being told it will be yet another day before they may begin to send out or receive emails (or be considered for removal from the company's "blacklist"), I thought it might be a good time to remind people to be careful when it comes to their accounts.
With Gmail, there had historically been a problem with some spammers causing problems through filters--so, if you're using Gmail, you may want to regularly check not just your filters (you may not have had any set up, but you still should check them), but also check the login information as to when and where was the last time someone access the account.
Likewise--and this applies to any type of account--it's not a bad idea to regularly change passwords (typically, it can be every month to three months), and to make sure to clear out your cookies, cache, and history following a "session" in which you may have had to login or access something sensitive (especially if accessing your email through a browser). It's possible for thieves to gain access to your accounts through those types of files or for some sites to contain what are known as "cookie grabbers".
On a related note, you may want to consider keeping cookies disabled unless they're absolutely needed (such as logging into some sites/forums/web-based email) as a further precaution.
I really don't want to see anyone have to go through the issues in having had an account compromised in some way.
