The most widely used free email service is from Google which has occupied
proficient and prominent position in the cloud.
GMAIL – The free
email service from Google with enough storage space to keep your
communications intact through years and years. Since Gmail is
widely used mail service, security concerns are primarily of respect and main
focus. Hence here in this post, we’ll share a few important and useful
Gmail security tips so that our accounts shall never be
compromised.
1. Always Use HTTPS – This is a great feature from security
point of view in Gmail. HTTPS is secure protocol for transmission of vital
information on web in encrypted form. Although, when we sign into our Gmail
account, https is used but to make sure https is used throughout our session for
our Gmail account, we need to enable this option from Gmail settings. To enable
this option, go to settings of your Gmail account and check “Always use
HTTPS” under general tab and save changes. HTTPS makes mail little slower
than normal but security should be of our prime concern.
2. Remember to signout – Log out whenever you have completed
checking mails even if you’re on your own computer. If you’re on public computer
like in cyber cafe, make sure you had unchecked “Remember me” or
“keep me signed in” option while logging into account. Clear cookies,
passwords before leaving public PC.
3. Audit – You know your own ip address. Now find
out the ip address from where your Gmail account was opened last time.
In the footer, at the very bottom of your inbox, you will see information about
last sessions – Last activity : ip address : Details . Just hit on details
button and you can see when was your account accessed and from which ip
address.
You can also use this feature there to log out all sessions if you find any
session open or if you forgot to log out on your friend’s pc or public
computers. One should make habit of
checking/ auditing Gmail account session details regularly.
3. Don’t disclose Password– Don’t disclose your password to
anybody. You might get fake email asking for your Gmail id and password, but
remember, Google never asks you to disclose your password. Stay safe. Also,
some websites have features to invite your Gmail contacts to network with you on
their website, for this they ask you to enter your Gmail id and password – Don’t
give your Gmail details to untrusted or small or new , unestablished websites
.
4. Periodically Change your password – Once in two months or so, you
should change your password but remember the new one!! Don’t use easy to guess
password i.e. don’t use your mobile number, date of birth, your girlfriend’s
number as your password! Use password of at least 8 characters. Don’t use
repetitive letters in passwords as aaaa1111. Don’t use your Gmail account
password as passwords on other websites. I find many people use the same
password for variety of websites so if one of your passwords is hacked, all are
hacked.
5. Check Outgoing links – Don’t fall prey to phishing attempt.
Your so called friend might give you a link stating that it the link to new and
feature packed advanced Gmail, you then try to log onto the link given by your
friend and your friend gets your id and password. So always check links before
hitting on any such links.
6. Keep your account up to date – Your Gmail password is
your orkut password and the same password is used for other Google products and
services, hence ensure security updates and measures in all your accounts so
that neither way, your account could be compromised.
Keep your account recovery option updated and
remember your security question and answer so that you can recover your
password in case if something wrong happens. Although, after reading this
post and following accordingly, such unfortunate case is nowhere to stand. You
can also add phone number to account for recovery purposes. To review your gmail
recovery options, follow this link:
GMail account recovery
options
7. Use updated Security Programs (Antivirus,
Firewall, Antispyware) on your pc - This point is also very important
because your computer might have been compromised by a trojan, keylogger or
virus which may distribute your account details to remote hacker. Update your
browser, operating system, security softwares, mail applications so that you
should not be vulnerable to latest exploits and hacks.
8. Check Attachments Before Downloading – Gmail scans every attachment you receive or
send for virus or other such kind of threats but even then, it is not advised to
download attachments from untrusted source. This will keep your computer safe and so your
account.
9.Beware of Spam – Don’t waste your time reading spam messages. Spam
messages are not only waste of time but also may prove to be a security concern
as spams may contain links to malicious websites.
10. Periodic Account Backup – Well, backup would be useful in case of
recovery of your account if your account had been compromised. Although this
point is not a necessary step, yet you can
backup all your gmail
mails to make your life easy! One such tool to backup gmail is –
Download
GMAIL Backup tool
