Skip to main content

Securing your Google Account

One of the common questions that get asked in Gmail and the Google Accounts Help Communities is about ways to keep Google Accounts secure. Knowing what to do when one suspects things can help better manage those situations and initiate the necessary actions to mitigate any imminent threats. 

The easiest way to check for unauthorized account access/suspicious activity is to click on the Details link below the Last account activity link at the bottom of the Gmail Inbox page. It includes any time that your email was accessed using a regular web browser, a POP client, a mobile device, etc. and lists the IP address that accessed your email, the associated location, as well as the time and date. If you find any suspicious IP addresses that may have been used to compromise your account (use a reverse IP lookup such as the https://whatismyipaddress.com/ip-lookup or http://ip-lookup.net) to acquire more details about the IP and confirm that it is (or not) something suspicious. 

I have written a blog post that explains the entries in the Gmail Account Information window - https://blogs-on-gmail.blogspot.com/2021/11/explaining-entries-in-gmail-account.html. Please review it for additional details.

Check under Gmail settings for any change in your POP/IMAP, Forwarding and Mail delegation settings.




Note: If you happen to use any other Google products or services extensively, look under their individual settings, especially those related to security, ownership and sharing.

Check for any unknown extensions, add-ons, scripts added to your browser(s).
You can visit the Google Accounts devices activity page - https://myaccount.google.com/device-activity to check on the recent devices used to access your account and Sign out of them by clicking the 3-dot (more/overflow) icon at the top-right corner of individual device tile.

You can also look at the various apps and sites with access to your account: https://myaccount.google.com/connections.


If you have 2-step verification enabled, it is always a good idea to review and if required, remove app passwords and remove trusted computers.
Finally, to secure your Google account, you can go through the help article Make your account more secure. Also, depending on the security enabled on your Google Account, try to enable more stringent security measures like:
  1. 2-step verification: https://support.google.com/accounts/answer/185839?co=GENIE.Platform%3DDesktop&hl=en&oco=0.
  2. Advanced Protection Program: https://support.google.com/accounts/answer/7519408?hl=en.
Additionally, if you feel threatened by what's happening, contact your local law enforcement or cyber crimes division or seek legal counsel on the options available to you as per the laws of the land. Google or the volunteers in the Help Communities can't help you on these matters.

Also, you may need to get your devices and other peripherals checked. I'd suggest that you consider running a reputed anti-virus, anti-spyware, and anti-malware on all suspicious devices and if required, call up or visit support for your devices for a detailed check. 

If there is a need to get your Android device factory reset or the hard drive of your computer formatted/changed, please review the following articles to prevent getting locked out:

  1. Checklist before you (or you allow someone else to) perform a factory reset on your device - https://support.google.com/accounts/thread/75668397?hl=en.
  2. Keep your Google Account accessible - https://blogs-on-gmail.blogspot.com/2021/10/keep-your-google-account-accessible.html.
You may also contact your ISP and or the carrier/cellular service provider to ensure the settings are not compromised in any way.

I hope the suggestions mentioned above helps. If you have any additional questions or seek further clarification on the details discussed above, please let them in the comments below. For any queries related to your Google account identity, security or recovery, please post in the specialized Google Accounts Help Community here - https://support.google.com/accounts/community?hl=en.

Last updated on: March 18, 2024.

Comments

  1. Unknown22 March 2022 at 21:00

    I forgot my gmail password. I do ALL of the steps multiple times, I click on send a code via Text Message. I never receive the text message with the code. I am using my cell phone and laptop which I've been using for over a year to sign into gmail. Same devices. I sometimes receive the code via Text, but it comes 10 minutes or later after, so it is expired. HELP!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Somnath28 March 2022 at 07:52

      The best place for account specific issues is the Google Accounts help community - https://support.google.com/accounts/community?hl=en. All I shall post here is for you to check with your cellular service provider on why the delay happens and to ensure you have other backup plans like Google Authenticator app or backup codes to sign in to your account. (Assuming the code you have issues with is related to 2SV).

      Delete

Post a Comment

Please do not post spam or promote your own site(s). All comments are moderated and such comments will not be published.

Also, please keep your comment relevant to the topic of the article.

Finally, please do not post any of your personally identifiable information such as phone number, email address or other important details as this is an open platform.

Popular posts

Gmail 101

Wendy Durham (CWD in her A Gmail Miscellany blog and wdurham in the Gmail Help Forum ) was a Product Expert and a prolific contributor when it came to explaining the intricacies of Gmail and Google accounts. Due to changes to Gmail and Google Accounts over the recent years, some of her well-known blog articles are no longer applicable. The three most used articles have been updated here to be consistent with the current version of Gmail and in some cases, Google Account. This will keep them useful going forward as a tribute to her dedication to user education. The current version of the article is updated based on the changes introduced in the Gmail UI as of January 2022, following the announcement here .  All your Gmail basics in one place! A primer for new users of Gmail, which explains how to find your way around Google's innovative email service and to perform the basic email tasks of reading messages, sending messages and organizing your mail using Gmail's web interfac...
5 comments
Read more

Revisiting Canned Responses (Templates) in Gmail

I wrote my first blog on Canned Responses here - Exploring the Advanced Tab in Gmail Settings: About Canned Responses , noting "Believe it or not, there is no article on Canned Responses in the Gmail Help Centre. Probably because it has always been a lab feature in the past and now included under the Advanced tab under Gmail settings in the new Gmail. So, today we take a look at this very popular feature in Gmail and the different ways we can use it.". That has remained the case, so with a change of UI, there is a need to rewrite the tutorial on how we can perform the following functions for a Canned Response or as they are now known, Templates . Create a Template Insert a Template Edit or Overwrite a Template Delete a Template Thankfully, the prerequisites haven't changed. To start using Templates in Gmail, it needs to be enabled from the Advanced tab under Gmail settings. As always, be sure to click on the Save Changes button on the bottom of the page. ...
45 comments
Read more