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How to Protect an Email Account from being Hacked

Submitted by on Tuesday, 14 October 200857 Comments

Today in this post I’ll teach you how to protect your email account from being hacked. Nowadays I get a lot of emails where most of the people say “My Email account is hacked please help…”. Now one question which arises in our mind is: “Is it so easy to hack an email account? OR Is it so difficult to protect an email account from being hacked?”. The single answer to these two questions is “Absolutely NOT!”. It is neither easy to hack an email nor difficult to protect an email account from bieng hacked.

If this is the case, then what is the reason for many people to lose their accounts?

The answer is very simple. They don’t know how to protect themselves from being hacked! In fact most of the people who lose their email accounts are not the victims of hacking but the victims of Trapping. They lose their passwords not because they are hacked by some expert hackers but they are fooled to such an extent that they themselves give away their password.

Are you confused? If so continue reading and you’ll come to know…

Now I’ll mention some of the most commonly used online scams which fool people and make them lose their passwords. I’ll also mention how to protect your email account from these scams.

1. WEBSITE SPOOFING

Website spoofing is the act of creating a website, with the intention of misleading the readers. The website will be created by a different person or organisation (Other than the original) especially for the purposes of cheating. Normally, the website will adopt the design of the target website and sometimes has a similar URL.

For example a Spoofed Website of Yahoo.com appears exactly same as Yahoo Website. So most of the people believe that it is the original site and lose their passwords. The main intention of spoofed websites is to fool users and take away their passwords. For this,the spoofed sites offer fake login pages. These fake login pages resemble the original login pages of sites like Yahoo,Gmail,Orkut etc. Since it resemble’s the original login page people beleive that it is true and give away their username and passwords by trying to login to their accounts.

Solution:

  • Never try to login/access your email account from the sites other than the original site.
  • Always type the URL of the site in the address bar to get into the site. Never click on the hyperlink to enter the site.

2. BY USING KEYLOGGERS

The other commonly used method to steal password is by using a Keylogger. A Keylogger is nothing but a spyware. The detailed description of keylogger and it’s usage is discussed in the post Hacking an email account. If you read this post you’ll come to know that it is too easy to steal the password using a keylogger program. If you just access your email account from a computer installed with keylogger, you definitely lose your password. This is because the keylogger records each and every keystroke that you type.

Solution:

Protecting yourselves from a keylogger scam is very easy.Just install a good anti-spyware program and update it regularly. This keeps your PC secure from a keylogger. Also there is a program called Anti-keylogger which is specially designed to detect and remove keyloggers. You can use this program to detect some stealth keyloggers which remain undetected by many anti-spyware programs.

3. ACCESSING YOUR EMAIL ACCOUNT FROM CYBER CAFES

Do you access your email from cyber cafes? Then definitely you are under the risk of loosing your password.In fact many people lose their email account in cyber cafes. For the owner of the cyber cafe it’s just a cakewalk to steal your password. For this he just need’s to install a keylogger on his computers. So when you login to your email account from this PC, you give away your password to the cafe owner. Also there are many Remote Administration Tools (RATs) which can be used to monitor your browsing activities in real time.

This doesn’t mean that you should never use cyber cafes for browsing the internet. I know, not all the cyber cafe owners will be so wicked but it is recommended not to use cafes for accessing confidential information. If it comes to the matter of security never trust anyone, not even your friend. I always use my own PC to login to my accounts to ensure safety.

So with this I conclude my post and assume that I have helped my readers to protect their email accounts from being hacked. Please pass your comments…



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57 Comments »

  • Srikanth (author) said:

    Thank you so much for your support!

    - 16 October 2008 at 10:49 AM
  • nukuman said:

    Thanks indeed for the Post on how to protect an email account from being hacked.Great!!!!

    - 16 October 2008 at 6:32 AM
  • Srikanth (author) said:

    @ carmel

    Nothing to worry.Just Ignore those mails.Report it as spam so that it might get filtered in the future.Don’t respond to those emails and you’ll be safe.He can no way receive your mails.

    - 17 October 2008 at 1:12 PM
  • carmel said:

    I have been recieving emails for someone I do not know. They have been emails from ebay skipe etc which I usually just delete until yesterday when one I decided to ring the number on one of these emails to see if the person was real - he was and this was his personal email. The email has his name as the sender to himself and cc’s to himself. The wierd thing is when I rang the number and the receptionise confirmed his name and the details of the email as real I found out that he lives near me. I have few enemies as I am in a job that creates enemies. My question; if I am recieving his emails is he receiving mine and do you think this is a hacking job? Bigpond couldn’t help me at all. Carmel

    - 17 October 2008 at 11:10 AM
  • Anonymous said:

    hi i have been trying to hack email from my office but servers are not allowing me to hav any keylogger, or any other that can be used.
    So i hv tried some methods that i were read in Ankit Fadias…
    i. e. by making face id on any email provider and sending mails to victims ids…..

    - 20 November 2008 at 10:31 PM
  • Gadget said:

    Hi guys, i have a new tool to hack mail ids. Just visit,
    http://www.rapidsoftz.blogspot.com

    and download it

    - 21 November 2008 at 4:49 AM
  • farruk said:

    sir i have lost my [email protected] account how can i reterive it

    - 14 December 2008 at 4:29 PM
  • anonomas said:

    is there a way to stop you hotnail account from bein hacked cos u can do it on the live.com website by saying you forgo your password

    - 7 January 2009 at 5:43 PM
  • arushi said:

    hey can u hack na id if i give u the address……………………………..cause i am not understanding all this stuff cause its a long procedure………

    - 3 February 2009 at 5:17 PM
  • feki said:

    hi help me pliz hack my frend mail pass [email protected]

    - 3 February 2009 at 6:14 PM
  • Usman said:

    Dear Srikanth !
    Thanks for writing post on how to protect email from being hacked.I have an email wich i do not use for i recieve about 10 emails from different id’s that you have won american ,british lottery etc.I want to know to stop these mails.For when i use mobile phone to see mail inbox i have to pay extra amount to read these mails.

    - 21 February 2009 at 10:30 AM
  • Srikanth (author) said:

    @ Usman

    Just mark these emails as spam, so that in the future they’ll automatically be moved to the spam folder. From this you can keep your inbox clean..

    - 21 February 2009 at 2:11 PM
  • Yasir said:

    Dear All:

    I wish that i found one can help me to bring me my hacked e-mail..please it is to important and many information in side because i use it for many years..i will appreciate any help my e-mail what hacked is [email protected] … thanks a lot

    - 18 May 2009 at 10:20 AM
  • Jane said:

    Please! Someone is blackmailing me and he is keeping my naked pics. He said he can see who are in my messenger list and my emails. Please help me!!! i am really desperate with this. I will loose my job and friends and future husband if this dont stop. I dont have any money to pay for help too. Please please!!!!!

    Hoping for your reply asap.

    Jane

    - 19 May 2009 at 1:40 PM
  • PROTOT¥PE said:

    Hello…..

    It’s secure to use the OSK (On Screen Keyboard) on cyber cafes??

    - 20 May 2009 at 12:32 PM
  • Srikanth (author) said:

    @ PROTOTYPE

    No. It’s not secure as there are chances of other spying on what you type.

    - 21 May 2009 at 6:52 AM
  • AAMIR said:

    dear be aware from spy activity in cyber cafe.

    - 28 May 2009 at 12:05 PM
  • kfarha said:

    i uuse to take orkut directly from gmail is there any problem ?
    if there wat can i do pls help me

    - 29 May 2009 at 1:15 PM
  • Mrinmoy said:

    Thanks alot for your valuable information. i don’t know but feel that someone is watching over my e- mail account. after installing an Anti-Keylogger i found a cheater. thanks a lot….

    - 1 June 2009 at 12:08 PM
  • Shiv said:

    nice one….and i wish to clear a doubt …if i have the email address…how can i find their location…easy? …please reply fast …email me if u can please…i may not be able to remember where i commented to retrieve its replies,…

    - 2 June 2009 at 4:17 PM
  • Geeta said:

    If it is the keylogger that does the trick, this method should work for all password protected accounts such as yahoo, gmail, hotmail, etc. Can I buy anti-keylogger at places like Best Buy? Thanks.

    - 17 June 2009 at 12:20 PM
  • Srikanth (author) said:

    @ Geeta

    If you suspect that someone is trying to spy on you, then you can go for anti-keylogger.

    - 19 June 2009 at 7:57 PM
  • YoShKa :P said:

    mmmm nice nice btw i have to protect my e-mail from hackers hehe ;) thats nice :)

    - 16 July 2009 at 1:11 AM
  • Gagan Aggrwal said:

    Dear Sir

    I have a ‘Google’ and ‘Orkut’ account and my Login id was “[email protected]” . My name is Gagan Aggrwal. Yesterday my Orkut profile has been hacked along with my two email ids which were associated with Orkut. The hacker is still using my Orkut profile and changed the password of my email ids as well as Hacker is using my email Id for “Pornographic Promotion’s “.whom so I feel that the person can use my personal data for promoting the pornographic items even I have also saved my some personal photograph over that email Id . As I have lots of Private and some Personal data over that “Email Id” , I thing that the person missus my Data .

    that person is using my account with the name of “Sara Khan” .

    pls do something urgently

    Thanks & Regards
    Gagan Aggrwal
    [email protected]

    - 26 July 2009 at 1:05 PM
  • Srikanth (author) said:

    @ Gagan Aggarwal

    Report “Abuse” on the profile for the Orkut Team. They will solve your problem.

    - 26 July 2009 at 8:16 PM
  • Gagan Aggrwa said:

    @ Srikanth

    I have already reported them through “Report Abuse” option however there is neither any action has been taken till now .

    what should i do
    pls help me ???

    - 28 July 2009 at 12:35 PM
  • mnmbn said:

    thank u its very useful

    - 4 August 2009 at 3:55 PM
  • Srikanth (author) said:

    @ Gagan Aggrwa

    Nothing can be done apart from this….

    - 6 August 2009 at 10:29 PM
  • iruoka88 said:

    thanks a lot Srikanth! pls tell me where i can get The hacker’s underground handbook?

    - 16 September 2009 at 12:32 PM
  • twist said:

    how about if the person checks mail at a cyber shop?can i use only the keylogger attached to his mail?can you help me with any easier way?thanks.

    - 15 October 2009 at 4:10 PM
  • G. Prakash said:

    I’m really happy 2 c that u r helping people. I appreciate ur work. I’m hacking leaner i would like 2 receive blogs on hacking. Hope u’ll cnd me. Thanks

    - 5 December 2009 at 11:25 AM
  • Raghav said:

    Sir i found ur article very interesting .

    I would like to know if hackers actually use any programming language like python, lisp to hack email accounts

    - 9 December 2009 at 1:32 AM
  • antikeylogger said:

    You must use this web site thanks for share :)

    - 23 December 2009 at 1:10 AM
  • Bala said:

    I heard some people say tat we should be changing our passwords often for security. Why is tat? Can you pls explain me.

    - 25 December 2009 at 1:32 PM
  • pbus said:

    srikanth -

    my post from around the end of the year got deleted? Been checking back for a response, now it is no longer posted, did I do something wrong?

    - 4 February 2010 at 7:49 AM
  • Malar Devi said:

    Hi Srikanth bro u r just amazing. im very much interested in hacking & Network security so pl be in touch. i want to learn a lot from u.

    - 19 March 2010 at 5:28 PM
  • Abdul said:

    HI Srikanth

    I dont have Internet connection ……. I oftenly goes to internet Cafe for browsing , checking mails ……

    My question is how to find out whether key logger is installed in that system or not ?

    As in most of the cafe we cannot have full right? (we cannot go to control panel)

    Few of the software is not shown in control panel but they are installed ,………..

    If Key Logger is installed how we can protect our pwd ?

    please help me, I will be thankful to you.

    - 6 April 2010 at 2:09 AM
  • Srikanth (author) said:

    @ Abdul

    It is not possible to find out the presence of the keylogger. It is just a matter of trust that you have on the cafe owner!

    - 18 April 2010 at 6:35 PM
  • wauchope said:

    mate if someone was gonna send me a keylogger remotley in a email would just opening the email set the keylogger off or would I have to open a file in the email?

    - 9 May 2010 at 9:13 PM
  • isha said:

    thnku……..so much for these nice tips

    - 13 May 2010 at 10:00 AM
  • Srikanth (author) said:

    @ wauchope

    It only affects you when you open the file. Not just by opening the email.

    - 29 May 2010 at 7:05 PM
  • Gargi said:

    Hi Srikanth! You are really providing great information here. I am thankful to you. I wonder about your vast internet database. Coooool man. Going great dude.
    Keep it up!

    - 4 June 2010 at 5:13 AM
  • xid said:

    @ Srikanth!
    I see you’re helping out people with lots of useful info.
    *What about BigBrother? Can we protect ourselves from being tracked?
    *What about legalty? Can they use tracked info to abuse us?
    *I also would appreciate if you could tell about how to shut all unused gates and protocols, for ex. to configure a pc for sending/receiving e-mails ONLY the best protected way. There is also a part of that if we use encryption, that data would be suspected for sure, and as tracked down, they would be decrypted. so I think that is not the best idea to use cryptography or any such ways which would attract any attention.

    thanks and regards, xid.
    p.s. if possible please send the copy of the answer on my e-mail.

    - 16 June 2010 at 3:36 AM
  • chetan said:

    this is very impressive. I am very thankful for this suggestion.
    and if you can then give me regular tips of ethical hacking on my
    email account. thank you very much

    - 16 June 2010 at 3:35 PM
  • Alex said:

    I really thank you for your useful help.

    - 2 July 2010 at 11:04 AM
  • WT said:

    Srikanth……….my gf’s ex (let’s call him S) has hacked my e mail acct, msn and facebook a long time ago, so i changed my password, i don’t know S is cheating or what, he said he can hack any acct even I change my password?? Is that true? I know S know about computers, now i want to hack his yahoo email, I saw your post but I am still confusing about something : we are enemies, so how can I send him a mail and he will open it?? if he is not going to open it, how can I place the spyware into his PC? and if he knows computer well, can he trace the spyware??? any good suggestion to hack his account, thanks so much

    - 3 August 2010 at 11:16 AM
  • bhupen said:

    There are too many methods to hack someone’s account.m ;)

    - 15 November 2010 at 3:40 PM
  • Ankit saini said:

    Thanks very 2 to you.

    - 18 November 2010 at 2:19 PM
  • jeevanantham said:

    most of them said that we can hack Google account by using free software’s is it true?

    - 26 November 2010 at 8:24 PM
  • Srikanth (author) said:

    @ jeevanantham

    No this is not true!

    - 26 November 2010 at 9:39 PM
  • Yash said:

    dude you are the greatest hacker after Adrian limo
    many of my friends says that ankit fadia is the greatest hacker
    but i believe that he is nothing more than a fake person
    hats off to you

    - 15 January 2011 at 2:33 AM
  • Ankit said:

    Hi srikanth ,in one of ur post i found that we can keep an policy when the computer starts
    but can we create and login page of own
    pls reply

    - 1 March 2011 at 12:36 PM
  • PC-BOy said:

    P.S. jeevanantham, yes it is possible, a keylogger is software, password cracker etc. cant mask cyberspace, people have the right to know if there a victim.

    - 8 April 2011 at 7:44 AM
  • Sagar said:

    Gr8 knowledge…!

    - 10 April 2011 at 11:28 AM
  • Mun Khai said:

    Thanks so much for sharing that i should know :)

    - 2 June 2011 at 11:51 PM
  • piyush j said:

    thnk’s fr give mee such awondrful sudgestion.. :)

    - 6 August 2011 at 8:26 PM
  • goshanjit said:

    thank u for the information.i just want to know how the email being hacked and how to protect from hackers.i am going to protect my email very safely.

    - 29 October 2011 at 4:37 PM