Check the usage of your G-Mail account

There are reports people hacking in to e-mail accounts and sends mail, which cause legal actions towards the account owner, who is innocent. 

Best way is to have strong passwords, not sharing passwords, always use log off button, use Incognito, clear the history etc.

If you are using G-Mail, there is a way to check whether your account is hacked.  Follow the below steps :

1.                  Login to your G-Mail account

2.                  Go to the bottom of the screen, where your Inbox is displayed.  You can find a line as “Last account activity: xxx hrs back…..” and a link “Details” (as shown below, marked in Red circle )

 3.  Click on this, and you will get a similar window (IPs of my usage are removed)

4..                  Check for any discrepancy.  ie : if you are accessing your account only thru browser, you should see Account Type “Browser”.  If you see access type is POP3, Mobile etc, you can be sure that some one else is access the account.  Also, check the IP.  If the account is accessed from some unknown IP Address, be on alert and take the necessary actions.

            If  you have found some unknown IP address, use some on-line tools (eg: http://www.arin.net/whois/  or http://aruljohn.com/track.pl or http://www.dnsstuff.com/ )

Some of the best practices :

a)     Always sing out/logout from your session

b)     Clear the history, cache, Passwords, cookies etc, especially  when you are accessing the account from shared computer

c)      Do not click on “Remember Me”, when you are accessing the account from shared computer

d)     Never share your password

e)     Use complex passwords (ie: password and user name should not be similar, use extra characters.)

     eg: Use combination of Cap, Small letter, extra characters.  Butremembering such a password is painful.  So, make your own logic. ie: instead of “a”, always use “@”, or instead of “s” use “$” or always typethe third letter in capital etc