Felicia Day, Internet celebrity and star of the original web series The Guild, recently had her Gmail account hacked. She eventually recovered her account, although it isn’t clear whether her celebrity status played a role in the recovery. What happens if your account gets hacked? How can you get it back?
We’ve covered 7 Tips to Protect Your Email From Hackers, but what happens if your account has already been hacked? If you’re going to do nothing else, at least set up your Google account so that you can recover your account via text message. Then, if your Gmail account is hacked, and if the hacker hasn’t dug into your settings too deeply, you can reset your password via a recovery code that Google will send to you in a text message. Chances are, the hacker won’t have access to your cell phone (and, if he does, you’ve got bigger problems than just your hacked email).
To enable password recovery via text message, click on “Settings” in Gmail, and then on the “Account and Import” tab. At the bottom of that tab, click the “Google Account settings” link. On the page that loads, click the “Change password recovery options” link. You’ll need to reenter your password and hit the “Verify” button.
Once you’re into the “Recovering your password” page, find the “SMS” section and click the “Add a mobile phone number” link. Then, select your country and input your telephone number, and click the “Save” button. If you entered your number correctly, you’re all set to recover your account via text message, in the even of catastrophe.
I haven’t tested to see if a Google Voice number would work as your recovery number, but, even if it does, you don’t want to use it. If a hacker has your email password, he also has your Voice password, and may be checking that.
This system isn’t foolproof. As best I can tell, there is no verification process to change the account recovery telephone number. So, a hacker with your password could go in and change this number, and you’d be out of luck. Still, an extra line of defense can’t hurt.
If you have any other tips for securing your Gmail account, let us know in the comments.
