Has my email been hacked or not? Are you concerned about your Email account? Then check these 10 ways to check email hacked or not. You can use any of the methods to find has my email been hacked? All the methods are different, and you don’t need to download any software. This method will even guide you from a future hack on your Email account. You can use these ‘has my email been hacked’ method on Gmail, Yahoo, Outlook or any other email accounts.
Have your friends ever complained about receiving random emails from your email account, and you have no idea? Or maybe you have observed that you have been getting a lot more spam emails than before all of a sudden? Well, this could be signs of your email being hacked by someone.
Email hacking is a widespread problem that all email service users face. Google claims that Gmail is the safest email service in the world, yet, it doesn’t mean that your Gmail account is 100% hack proof. No email service can guarantee the privacy of your data.
Read more: Free Email Tracking Tool
Hackers can target your email account for numerous reasons; obtaining contacts, addresses, passwords for other apps, and most of all your bank account and credit card information. And all this information in the hands of a stranger can impact your both personal and professional life. These tips on ‘has my email been hacked’ or not can help you to find the reason.
Has my Email been Hacked? Top 10 Ways to Check Email Hacked
The email hacking is the most hacked online content these days. Several hackers try to steal your essential data from Emails. An Email hacking can put your life in serious trouble as all our data is connected from an Email account. Hackers are so expert that its hard to get the answer of has my email been hacked or not.
So I am sharing this guide on has my email been hacked or not? You can check these 10 ways to check these top ten methods on has my email been hacked or not.
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Check Email Forwarding
Check your email account’s email forwarding settings to see if it’s turned on or not. Sometimes hackers turn on this setting to forward all your emails to their email account. It includes your password reset emails, confidential email related to work, and OTP verification emails too. Thus, unless you turned on this setting yourself, keep email forwarding option off.
Read more: How to Automatically Forward Gmail to another Email
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Look out for Suspicious IP Addresses
It is one of the easiest methods to check if your email account has been hacked. Just check the last active sessions of your email account. Examine the latest email account activities for any unknown IP addresses and the access methods. Your account activity panel can show you not only IP addresses but also the location and date on which that IP address accessed your account. If you notice any suspicious IP addresses, then change your password immediately to block access to hackers.
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Examine Bounced Back Messages
Examine all bounced back messages and make sure that they were sent by you only. The suspicious bounced message which you never sent to anyone can be an indicator of a hacker attack. Many spammers hack into other people’s email account and use them for sending spam emails. So, if you are getting bounced messages with failed unknown receivers, it means that spammers are using your email address instead of theirs to attack other people with spam emails.
Read more: How to Schedule Gmail to Send Later
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IMAP and POP Settings
POP and IMAP are features offered by many email service provides that will allow you to access your email account from any third party application. The problem here is that any hacker can set up their email applications to receive all your emails if they get your password. It also means that they will be able to send emails using your email address.
Therefore, if you are not using IMAP or POP features, then it’s better to disable them. Also, if you notice any suspicious activity in your account, it means that someone is already using your account with POP or IMAP. In such cases reset your password to log out of all devices.
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Verification Steps
Many email services like Gmail have introduced two-step verification process for logging into your account. If someone hacks into your email account, they might also change your login verification data. It means turning off the option to double-check a login using two-step verification. It includes the option to receive a verification code on a registered device while logging in. Altered verification settings can be an indicator or hacking attack and should be set back as soon as possible.
Read more: How to Send Emails to Gmail “Primary” tab
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Me-to-Me Emails
Have you noticed any email that appears to be sent from “Me-to-Me” in your inbox, sent, or trash and spam folders? Email spoofing is a technique used by hackers to hide their existence. They change the email address of an original recipient to your address so that it looks like you sent an email to yourself. If you are a victim of email spoofing, then you will also see such emails.
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Have I Been Pwned?
Have I Been Pwned is a site that maintains a record of all usernames and passwords that have been leaked from public platforms? These records are taken from breaches found on numerous websites on the internet. This database makes it easier to check if your username and password have ever been released in public leaks. Just head over to their site and type in your email address or username.
You can repeat this process as many times you want to check multiple addresses. You can also use their “Notify me” feature to receive a notification if your username or password is ever “pwned” on the internet.
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Missing Contacts
Does your email account miss any of your email contacts? Or are there unknown new contacts added to your email account? If yes, it may suggest that someone has hacked your account. However, keep in mind that your all contacts will not show on each device you use to log in unless they are synced to it. So check your contacts only through your computer or smartphone.
Read more: How to Tell if an Email has been read Gmail
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New Security Measures
All email services allow you to add security measures in case you forget your password. You can add these measures from Sign-in & Security option of your email account. You can also check if any unknown and unfamiliar email address or phone number have been added as a backup security measure. If a hacker attacks your account, they might also add new alternate passwords and verification methods.
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Change in Password
Out of the all the ways to see if your email account is hacked, this must be the most obvious method. If a hacker attacks you-you can be sure to find that your password has been changed. In this case use backup options to reset your password.
Read more: How to Send Large Files over the Internet
Conclusion
Email hacking is very dangerous in our digital life. But trust me if you keep these 10 tips on has my email been hacked or not. Then, you can keep checking your email for safety. Remeber nothing is safe in this world and these hackers are getting expert day by day. Make sure you always keep a backup of your important emails.
Make sure you share this article on has my email been hacked or not with your friends and family members. And help to keep checking their email for security.
My Yahoo hacker used my address to send out mass emails, but all replies were sent to his address. He also set up filters for bounced mail to go into my archive folder so I wouldn’t notice them.