How to make your Gmail account easy to recover if hacked

The very first step to take is the same as I discussed in last article.

Keep variations in your username/password over various sites: its of prime importance as how could you think that any random forum or newbie site could be as secure as your Yahoo/ Gmail/ Hotmail? If you use the same username/password combination in some smaller sites/ forum and that one got hacked, then a hacker could try to login with the same in other popular services as well and that could lead in getting your account hacked in a way, where no mistake was from Gmail/ Yahoo/ Hotmail side.

The other steps are for recovery of your email if hacked from Gmail as Amit suggested:

Use your old days pen & paper and note down the following somewhere:

1. The month and year when your created your Gmail / Google Account.
2. If you created a Gmail account by invitation, write the email address of the person who first sent you that invite for Gmail.
3. The email addresses of your most frequently emailed contacts (the top 5).
4. The names of any custom labels that you may have created in your Gmail account.
5. The day/month/year when you started using various other Google services (like AdSense, Orkut, Blogger, etc.) that are associated with the Google account that you are trying to recover. If you’re not certain about some of the dates, provide your closest estimate.
6. Run a Test! Log-out of all your Gmail / Google Accounts. Start the password recovery process. This guarantees that what you set up actually works. You want to be absolutely certain your SMS settings and secondary email addresses are configured correctly. (this is when you have associated your mobile in your Gmail account, do it for sure).
7. Check your IP Address: From time to time check out the IP address in the footer of your Gmail Inbox. If you see an odd one, change your Google password immediately. Knowing IP addresses may seem too technical to some but it’s good information to know.

Thanks to Amit for listing out these tips.

At the end …

“ I don’t expect from everyone to be smart enough to remember these all minor but common details, but its about knowing your account more better than anyone else. Its like recognizing your bag, when recovered from police etc. You need to tell them that what’s inside it, which only you are expected to know. So, know your account better and keep it noted down in your diary or somewhere secured. ”

Nitish Kumar