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Who doesn’t fear hackers? It seems all too easy as a smartphone owner to find yourself in a situation where you are vulnerable to hackers. Whether you are a frequent public Wifi user (and always forget not to visit your banking and shopping sites while on an insecure network) or you’ve followed one too many strange links sent to you via email, it’s possible you’ve come close to being hacked in the past. The big question is: how would you even know this is happening? The sooner you are clued into a privacy breach situation, the faster you can take action to make sure your data isn’t stolen and compromised. Tech Expert Vladmir Bannikov at Microwize Technology spoke with SHEFinds.com about the five scary ways you can tell if your email has been hacked.
You Can’t Log Into Your Email Account
One of the first signs to look out for is an inability to sign into your email account. “When you try to log in, you may get a message that your username or password is incorrect,” Bannikov says. “This could mean the hacker changed your credentials to lock you out of your own account.”
Your Sent Messages Folder Looks Odd
Check your sent messages folder if you suspect you’ve been hacked — it could provide a clue into what is happening. “Your sent messages folder may hold scammy messages you didn’t write,” Bannikov says. “Or, the folder may be sitting empty when you never deleted your sent messages.”
Friends Claim You Sent Them Messages And Spam
“If an attacker has access to your account, a likely course of action they may take is using it as a conduit yo your organization,” Bannikov says. “If you are being told that colleagues are receiving junk/phishing/spam emails from your account, your account may be compromised.”
Strange Message Appear On Your Social Media Accounts
Hackers don’t just stop at your email — they’ll also try to gain entry into your social media accounts. “If your latest Instagram post or tweet is touting some product you’ve never used, a hacker may have gained access to both your email and social media accounts,” Bannikov says. “Your email account can act as a gateway into other accounts. The hacker can simply click ‘forgot password’ at login and have a password reset link sent right to your email inbox, which they now control.”
Use ‘Have I Been Pwned?’
According to Bannikov, ‘Have I Been Pwned?’ is one of the best tools for checking your email accounts’ safety. “You should go to the website and enter each of your email addresses,” Bannikov says. “The site will check if your account has ever been part of a data breach or if your account details have been pasted to the public online. If either of those things is true, you know the account is more at risk.”
