Most companies become so pre-occupied with securing online access to their financial accounts that they overlook that all these precautions may be moot if hackers can access your email. Here are a few tips to help you identify and prevent this malady.
Signs you may have been hacked:
- Your contacts receive emails from your email address that you did not send
- Your ‘sent’ messages folder has emails you did not send or is emptied out
- Your social media has posts you did not make
- You cannot log into your email account(s)
Precautions if you have been hacked:
- Ensure all Operating Systems (OS)/Security Softwares are up to date
- Scan all your internet-connected devices for viruses and malware
- Ensure email forwarding is not sending messages to any unfamiliar addresses
- Routinely change your email password using a combination of special characters, upper and lowercase letters, and numbers
Precautions to avoid being hacked:
- Ensure your passwords are complex and different across various sites, like financial and email.
- Be very careful about entering usernames and passwords to any sites accessed via links from an email. Rather, visit the site directly instead of clicking on links.
- Turn on two-factor authentication – a service where a code is sent to a smartphone or another authentication service (i.e. google authenticator)
- Be wary of using public computers to access personal accounts (email, financial..etc..)
This blog is Part 1 of a Two-Part series; part 2 will identify the various ways to recognize fraudulent emails being sent to you from ‘trusted’ and ‘untrusted’ sources. Monex takes email and online security seriously, if you have any questions about the above blog or anything related to online/email/computer security please feel free to reach out to our IT specialists at security@TEMPUSfx.com.
