In this post, I will teach you how to protect your email account
from getting hacked in a very simple and easy to understand manner. The
tips provided in this post not only applies to your email account, but
can also be used to protect any other online account such as your bank
logins, Paypal or your social networking account. Nowadays, I get a lot
of emails from people where most of them ask me for help on getting back
their email accounts. This is because, they have simply fallen victims
and have got their email accounts hacked!
Today, it is a common problem for many
Internet users to have their email accounts compromised by hackers. But
this arises one BIG question in my mind!
“Is it so easy to hack an email account? OR Is it so difficult for people to protect their email account from getting hacked?”.
The single answer to these two questions is “Absolutely NOT!“. It is neither easy to hack an email nor difficult to protect an email account from being hacked.
If this is the case, then what is the reason for many people to lose their accounts?
The answer is very simple. They do not
know how to protect themselves from getting hacked! In fact, most of the
people who lose their online accounts to hackers are not the victims of
hacking but the victims of trapping. They get hacked
not because they are hacked by some expert hackers, but because they are
fooled to such an extent that they themselves give away their password.
Are you confused? If so continue reading and you’ll come to know…
Now I will mention some of the most
common pitfalls by which people often fall victims and get their
accounts compromised. In addition to this, I will also give information
on how to avoid these pitfalls and stay protected.
1. Website Spoofing (Phishing Scam)
Website spoofing, also known as phishing
is the act of creating a fake website with the intention of misleading
the visitors. The website will be created by a different person or
organization (other than the original) especially for the purpose of
cheating. Normally, the website will adopt the design of the target
website and sometimes has a similar URL.
For example a spoofed website
of Yahoo.com appears exactly same as Yahoo Website. So, most people
would believe this as the original site and lose their passwords. The
main intention of spoofed websites is to fool users and take away their
login details. For this, the spoofed sites offer fake login pages.
These fake login pages resemble the original login pages of sites like
Yahoo, Gmail or Facebook. Since they resemble the original login page,
people believe that it is true and give away their login details to the
hackers by trying to login to their accounts.
Solution:
- Never try to login/access your online account from the sites other than the original site.
- Always type the URL of the site in the address bar to get into the site. Do not click on a hyperlink to enter the site.
2. By using Keylogger (Spyware)
The other commonly used method to steal
password is by using a Keylogger. A Keylogger is nothing but a spyware.
The detailed description of keylogger and its usage is discussed in the
post How to Use Keyloggers.
If you read this post you’ll come to know that it is too easy to steal
the password using a keylogger program. If you just access your account
from a computer installed with keylogger, you definitely lose your
password. This is because the keylogger records each and every keystroke
that you type on the computer’s keyboard.
Solution:
Protecting yourselves from a keylogger
scam is very easy. Just install a good anti-spyware program and update
it regularly. This keeps your PC secure from a keylogger. For more
information, you may read my other post on How to Protect your Computer from keyloggers?
3. Accessing your Email from a Public Place
Do you access your email from public
places like cyber cafes? If so, you are definitely under the risk of
losing your password. In fact, many people lose their email account in
cyber cafes. For the owner of the cyber cafe, it is just a cakewalk to
steal your password. For this, all he need to do is install a keylogger
program on his computers. So, when you login to your email account from
this PC, you give away your password to the cafe owner. Also, there are
many Remote Administration Tools (RATs) which can be used to monitor
your browsing activities in real time.
This doesn’t mean that you should never
use cyber cafes for surfing the Internet. I know, not all the cyber cafe
owners will be so wicked. However, it is recommended not to use public
places for accessing confidential information. If it comes to the matter
of security never trust anyone, not even your friend. I always use my
own computer to login to my accounts so as to ensure the safety.
So with this I conclude my post and
assume that I have helped my readers to protect their online accounts
from being hacked. Please pass your comments. 
