Did you know Google accounts are among the most frequently hacked accounts on the Internet?
The reason hackers love to target Google accounts is simple…
If someone manages to break into your Google account they’ll have immediate access to – and complete control over – every Google service you use.
In a nutshell, your Gmail account, your YouTube channel(s), your AdSense account, your AdWords account, your Google Drive online storage…
Every Google service you use will be immediately compromised if a hacker manages to break into your main Google account. Think about that for a moment…
What’s more, every non-Google account that your Gmail account is linked to could possibly be at risk from a Google hack if your Gmail account can be used to reset the passwords on those accounts and/or receive Two-Factor Authentication codes for them.
Luckily, there are several things you can do to make it as difficult as possible for potential hackers to successfully break into your Google account.
First, you can choose a strong password that’s extremely securely, yet easy to remember.
This is the most important step you can take. After successful phishing attempts, weak passwords are the primary reason why online accounts get hacked. And yes, that includes Google accounts.
After you’ve selected a really strong password, the next thing you need to do is enable 2-Step Verification on your account.
Once 2-Step Verification has been successfully enabled, even if a potential hacker knows your password he won’t be able to sign into your Google account without having access to your mobile phone.
Next, I recommend that you visit your Google account’s Security page to see if Google has flagged any aspect of your account’s security as being incomplete or too weak.
Once you’re on that page you’ll be able to verify all of your account’s security-related settings and make changes to anything that needs to be tweaked.
And finally, make sure you avoid dangerous practices that can put your Google account (and your other online accounts for that matter) at risk.
The most important thing here is to learn how to recognize and avoid phishing emails.
And as I frequently say in my blog posts, it’s imperative that you keep your device malware-free and avoid visiting sketchy websites.
Well, that pretty much wraps it up. Once you have taken the steps mentioned above you’ll be able to rest easy knowing potential hackers will have a pretty tough time breaking into your Google account.