Hackers in your Email, Gmail Two-Step Verification

[I've been having trouble with this post, so I had to repost it.]

I've been seeing a lot of people lately who have had their email hacked.  The latest includes a minister I know well, and two separate people in my extended family (this very morning, actually).  The email looked something like the following (minus the link):

Hello,
Check out this properties, CLICK HERE, and log in with your email

Best Regard

--[signature of the person which goes out on the bottom of every email.]

 

This has been a learning experience for all of us, I guess.  I have four major suggestions.  The second is the most important.

1. Never click on links on emails unless it's obvious that the person who wrote the email actually wrote the email.  
2. If you are asked to log-in somewhere with your email, check the address bar on the top of the browser.  Make sure it says, for example, www.google.com or mail.google.com. If not, don't log in, or a hacker will have your email and password nicely stored on his server.
3. If you do get hacked, do the following.  
1. For Gmail, change your password immediately AND DO THE FOLLOWING.
2. Log into your email from a browser.
3. Go to the bottom of the inbox, where it shows "Details" in tiny letter on the right (just below the inbox).  Click on this.



The Details link is on the right, just below the inbox, in small letters.

4. There you can see all the mailbox activity.  There's a button there: "Sign out of all other sessions".  Click on this.  That should kick the hacker out of your email if he is logged in.  Just changing your password might not kick him off if he's already logged in.
5. You should be able to see there if the hacker gained access to your email.  If for example, there are IP addresses from the UK or China or Russia, then you know they got in. If so, then you'll need to change your other passwords immediately (e.g., Amazon, Dropbox, Facebook, etc.).
6. If your email is with someone else other than gmail, then look for something similar (LOG OUT OF ALL ACCOUNTS).
4. I highly suggest that if you have a cell-phone which you carry with you, that you sign up for two-step verification on gmail.  This way, even if a hacker gets your password, he can't get in unless he has your cell-phone.  How it works is if you try to log in from an untrusted computer, gmail will send a one-use pin number to your cell phone.  This has several advantages:
   
1. If someone tries to get in, you know about it right away because you get a message on your cell phone. 
2. For them to get in, they need to have your cell phone as well.
3. You can set devices to trusted.  That way you only notice the two-step process when you sign in from someone else's computer or ipad.  Otherwise, it's exactly the same as you have it now.
   
4. Gmail provides a list of one-use pin numbers for you to use if you don't have cellular access.  Once you use all the numbers, you can regenerate the list.  I carry these numbers in my wallet.  You could even use just this option if you don't have a cell-phone (with great care), because really, how often do you log in from an untrusted computer?

Mat Honan, a well-respected tech guy who was very careful with his security, got hacked partly because he didn't have gmail two-step.  You can read about it here.
http://stevekinney.net/post/28715272834/dont-get-hacked-turn-on-two-step-verification-in

 

Here's another interesting post about how they hacked him, with more detail.  Quite ingenious, actually.
http://www.itweb.co.za/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=57602

I hope that this helps you from getting hacked, and also helps you to know what to do if you do get hacked. 

God's blessings.  It's good to know that the most important things of our life are secure with Him forever more.