How To Secure Your Gmail Account?

Gmail is the most popular email service to date, thanks to its creator Google, the name which is often associated with user-friendliness and security. Despite what the company does to keep your emails safe, you may still be preyed on by hackers, phishers, and scammers from all over the web.

Protect Your Password

Of course, start by making sure your password is well chosen and not shared. If you need to change it, visit the settings>> Accounts and Imports>> Change Password. You'll find the password settings at the top of the list.

Setup 2-Step Verification

To combat the growing account theft issues, Google introduced a security feature which will greatly strengthen your account: 2 Step Verification. In general, it adds an extra layer of security by enquiring a code that will be sent to your phone every time you request for the account access, thus making it impossible for anyone to hack into your account without your phone. To enable this, go to SmsAuthConfig

Beware of Phishing

Always make sure of the website address in the address bar of your browser before you enter your Google account credentials. It could possibly be trying to steal your access information. If you are unsure of the page's origin, refrain from signing in there. The same goes for emails you might receive asking for your password.

Stay Out Of Google's Spam Folder

Learn to ignore spam. Must you open every email? Google does a pretty good job of spam filtering. Leave the spammy messages alone and you'll be in good shape. Most malicious or phishing emails are very obvious with any of the following in their subject lines:

• Get back to me
• Your money is waiting
• If you don't read this now, you'll hate yourself
• Claim your reward

However, some subject lines look less suspicious like "Your Amazon.com order has been shipped". If you use a unique email account solely for Amazon or eBay and then promise yourself never to click on a link inside the email, you'll be fine.

Have a Recovery Email Address

That's also up to date because Google uses this strictly for sending security codes for when you forget a password. You should have this second email address also because Google will use it to send important security information.

Review Attachments

Although Google has an inbuilt virus scan feature for both incoming and outgoing attachments, still it's advised not to open an attachment that you have not been expecting. It could carry malware that might harm your computer. You could mail the person back if curious and ask about the attachment first.

Incognito Mode

Use the incognito or private mode in browsers when you're on a public or shared computer such as at a hotel. These modes will prevent cookies, web history and other data from getting stored. If these modes are not available, clear your cookies and browsing history when you Logout.