Tuesday, August 18, 2009

Six ways to protect your gmail account from being cracked

What is phishing?
Phishing is the best working method of hacking email accounts. The advantage of phishing in email account hacking is that victim is not able to recognize the fake page (phisher) as this phisher matches with the original page (depends on cracker’s skills).
So, here I have mentioned few tips which you should follow to prevent cracking of your email account by crackers.
1. Phishing filter:
I will recommend use of browser which has phishing filter.Web browsers like Firefox 3.0+ (my favorite), Internet Explorer 7+, Opera 7x supports phishing filter and should be used for safe browsing.
2. Do not provide sensitive information :
Yes, this is the main thing you have to remember. Unless and until, you know the person or institute, do not give your sensitive information like user ids , passwords, bank account numbers as a reply to any email. In fact, 90% emails demanding such information are meant for cracking!
3. Suspicious Filters :
Check whether there are any suspicious filters not created by you. For checking your email filters, go to Settings->Filters. If you find any such suspicious filter not created by you, delete it urgently.
4. Great offers, ads, winners :
Generally, Gmail users are deceived by emails which contain great offers, ads or declaring that you are a lucky winner and you should provide listed query information to receive your cash prize. Never click or provide any information for such claiming emails, unless you’ve actually participated in any of the said competitions, chances are that, you never had!
5. Disable Forwarding and POP/IMAP :
To disable forwarding and POP/IMAP, go to Settings-> Forwarding and POP/IMAP and disable forwarding and POP/IMAP.
6. The most important :
The most important precaution which one must follow is “do not click on the link” provided in the email without knowing to which page the link will take you. I have added my personal experience of phishing and the method to determine the link target, where i received a paypal phisher, in my article Paypal phisher to crack Paypal account. One more thing, always open link given in email by typing address of site in new tab/window.
Thus, if you will follow these guidelines, i bet your Gmail account will never be cracked by a phisher. Just remember the guidelines and prevent Gmail account from being cracked by crackers.
This isn’t my original article, but an aggregate information I’ve gathered in time, which will hopefully help you

2 comments:

  1. the easyest thing to do is have instaled an av solution, like nod, or avira, but i like most bitdefender. now i use internet security 2009 but heard that 2010 version is much improved.

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