Did you know someone could be lurking in your Gmail?
If hackers can get into the accounts of top US officials who, for sure, is being protected with levels upon levels of security by the NSA — how easy do you think it is for them to get into yours?
In this day and age, cyber criminals would do just about anything just to try to milk some money out of their unsuspecting prey… And that prey, unfortunately, could very much be you.
Among the most common cyber-scheming involves extortion, and hackers behind such activities usually get their leverage from piles upon piles of private emails of ordinary people like you.
Email, although a great tool for communicating, can also be an extremely effective scamming tool — as evidenced by many past scandals involving celebrities, high-ranking officials, and important business execs, which were brought about by evil doers of hacking.
But how do you know that your Gmail account hasn’t already been compromised?
There’s a simple and reliable way to tell for sure. And that is by doing the following:
1. Go to the Gmail homepage using a computer. Not on your tablet, not on your phone, but on your computer.
2. Log on to your account using your username and password.
3. Once you’re in, scroll down to the bottom of the page on your screen.
4. On the right part of the screen at the bottom, look for the part that says “Last Account Activity”. Click on that part.
5. Under “Last Account Activity”, you’ll see a list of the last 10 times your account, indicating the IP address of the computer or device as well as the where you accessed it from.
If any of the IP addresses seem unfamiliar or suspicious, change your password immediately— just to be on the safe side.
Otherwise, you’re all good and your Gmail account is doing just fine.
Unfortunately, however, this method strictly applies to Gmail accounts only. Other email providers such as Yahoo! and MSN are yet to add features similar to this.