There are a couple of ways that your email account can be compromised or hacked. One way is through a virus. If this is the case, you should still have access to your email account. If you do, go to it immediately and change your password. This virus can act in a number of ways by spamming everyone in your address book and making it look like it comes from you.
If you are sure that you didn’t send the emails out, then send an email blast to your contacts informing them that the spam didn’t come from you but from a third party. You might want to tell them how viruses work and ensure that you and your contacts have a good antivirus program installed and running.
Your email being hacked used to be a bigger problem in previous years than it is today. This is because most email hosting services have programs included to protect your address book.
If someone has compromised your account, they have no doubt changed your password so you can no longer access it. This is bad news. You need to take immediate action by contacting your ISP (Internet Service Provider). Hopefully they have enough identifying information about you so they can issue you with another password on the spot. If the situation is beyond just changing a password, they may tell you to create a new email address. The latter is a last resort and doesn’t happen frequently.
After you get a new account, you can let your contacts know and reassure them that the problem was not of your making. Again, be sure to let them know they should all have a good antivirus program installed and enabled.
Got Gmail?
Google presents a bit of an issue. If you have other accounts with them such as Adsense, Google Docs, and/or Blogger; they are all tied to the same account so this means all these accounts have been compromised.
- Reset your Google password by using this link: RESET GOOGLE PASSWORD You’ll be able to ask to reset your password and Google will send instructions to your secondary email address that you have on file with Google. This will work if the hacker has not managed to change your secondary email address while in your account.
- Should the above not work, then use the following link as your last resort.
FIX MY ISSUE!
<.i>If that didn’t work, then there is a form you can fill out here: GOOGLE SUPPORT This form is letting Google know that your account has been compromised.
Having your email account compromised is not fun. We depend on them so much and this is why taking all the necessary steps to prevent this is much better than trying to fix it once it’s happened.
Bottom line: Email hacking is just one more Internet security issue to be concerned with. Protecting your computer is something you need to invest in. Get the best programs you can that will prevent these malicious attacks to your email account. In the end, the cost of repairing the damage can be much worse than the expense of a good and reliable antivirus/antispyware service.
To view and learn more about the Antivirus/Antispyware we love, click on the button below.
