HMA! TIP: HOW TO RECOVER FROM HACKED ACCOUNTS

If you suspect that one of your accounts has been compromised (for example, your email account), it is extremely important that you carry out a full security-check of all your accounts and services, as well as taking action to prevent further damage and future security problems.

Keep in mind that time is of the essence – any additional time your accounts are compromised can lead to more damage and more problems. Don’t panic, but don’t postpone it either!

1. Change your passwords
Your first step should be to change your passwords – not only for the compromised account/service, but also for all accounts and services that relate to it.
For example, if your email account was hacked, the hacker can just reset passwords for all other services that are registered to your email address. The hacker can easily take control of all your other accounts.
To be on the safe side, it’s best if you change ALL your passwords.

Unable to access your account? Has the hacker changed your passwords already?
Check the affected services support pages for information on incidents like this. If they do not offer a solution on how to reset your password again, contact their support department and explain the situation. Make sure you include relevant information to confirm that you’re the legitimate account owner.

2. Damage Assessment
Get to know what possible damage has been done with your compromised account.
For example:

• Was your email account used to send spam or viruses to anyone in your address book?
• Was your account used for illegal purposes?
• Was sensitive information or data accessed or stolen from your account or computer?
• Has you incurred financial loss due to the incident?

3. Prevent it from happening again

• What lead to the hacked account?
• Have you been using a weak password? (select stronger passwords!
• Would security software have prevented the incident? (by installing anti-spyware/malware, antivirus and firewall software)
• Is your computer properly secured? (For example, use TrueCrypt for storing sensitive data, don’t store your passwords and other login-info in cleartext)

Note: Security problems like compromised accounts are not always caused by negligent behavior such as using weak passwords or missing security software. Outdated software and firmware can lead to situations like this as well, so make sure to keep all your software including your operating system itself up-to-date.

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Hide My Ass	Visit Provider
Strong VPN	Visit Provider
Switch VPN	Visit Provider
Pure VPN	Visit Provider
IPVanish VPN	Visit Provider
Hotspot Shield Elite	Visit Provider

HMA! TIP: HOW TO USE INCOGNITO MODE, CLEAR CACHE, AND TURN OFF LOCATION SERVICES ON GOOGLE CHROME

We recently showed you how to use incognito mode, clear cache, and turn off location services on Safari (Mac OS).

Fortunately all browsers contain features which allow you to:

– Surf the net without leaving traces on your computer (using “Private browsing” or “incognito mode”)
– Clear cached files (cookies, temp data, images, websites)
– Disable tracking / location services (to prevent websites from knowing your location)

This tutorial shows how you can turn off location services on Google Chrome, how to clear your machine from cached browsing data and how to use incognito mode.

To use “incognito” mode follow the steps below:

1. Click the ‘spanner’ icon
2. Select “New incognito window” or hit CTRL+SHIFT+N
3. A new browser window will open. While browsing in this window, you will not leave any traces on your computer like cookies, temporary internet files (cache), history, search history, etc.

To clear all types of cache, cookies and other browsing data, follow these steps:

1. Click the ‘spanner’ icon
2. Select Settings
3. Click Show advanced settings
4. In the “Privacy” section, click Clear browsing data
5. In the form that is now displayed, select Obliterate the following items from: the beginning of time
6. Check all items that can be cleared
7. Click “Clear browsing data”

To stop Google Chrome from sharing your location with websites, follow these steps:

1. Click the ‘spanner’ icon
2. Select Settings
3. Click Show advanced settings
4. In the “Privacy” section, click Content settings
5. In the dialog that appears, scroll down to the “Location” section. Here, we recommend that you select: “Do not allow any site to track my physical location.”

This will automatically deny any site requests for your location.

Don’t forget there are a number of other ways a website can still recognize you, so be sure to visit our Help Center and forum for more great advice!

Name of the Provider	Website Address
Hide My Ass	Visit Provider
Strong VPN	Visit Provider
Switch VPN	Visit Provider
Pure VPN	Visit Provider
IPVanish VPN	Visit Provider
Hotspot Shield Elite	Visit Provider

HMA! TIP: HOW TO USE INCOGNITO MODE AND CLEAR CACHE ON INTERNET EXPLORER

We recently showed you “How to stop websites from knowing your location”, to explain how a website or a service can still recognize your location even when you use a VPN or proxy.

We have covered how you can clear cached browsing data from your machine, and how to use incognito mode and clear cached files for Safari (Mac OS) andGoogle Chrome.

This tutorial shows you how to use incognito mode, clear cache and also provides other privacy and location options on Internet Explorer, as fortunately IE does not have built-in location services.

Firstly, you will need to make sure that you are using the latest version of Internet Explorer – visit Windows Update.

Now let’s take a look at the options we have in the “Tools” menu.

If you don’t see the “Tools” menu, just tap the ALT key whilst Internet Explorer is running and the menu will pop up.

Here we have:

Delete browsing history (CTRL+SHIFT+DEL)

This is a useful option which will clear all kinds of cached data that may reveal your location and which also lets websites know if you have visited them before (for example, if you visited a website using a foreign IP.)

In the following window you will need to select the following options and then click “Delete“:

-Temporary Internet files
-Cookies
-ActiveX Filtering and Tracking Protection data

InPrivate Browsing (CTRL+SHIFT+P)

This option opens a new browser window in “Incognito-mode“. This prevents the browser from caching any data and it disables extensions and toolbars, and also prevents it from using previously cached data that may reveal your location or recognize you.

You can use this function to test if a website is blocking or locating you by using cached data.

Tracking Protection

With the tracking protection feature you can download lists that help to block content from websites that are known to track your location and personal information.

Don’t forget there are a number of other ways a website can still recognize you, so be sure to visit our Help Center and forum for more great advice!

Name of the Provider	Website Address
Hide My Ass	Visit Provider
Strong VPN	Visit Provider
Switch VPN	Visit Provider
Pure VPN	Visit Provider
IPVanish VPN	Visit Provider
Hotspot Shield Elite	Visit Provider

HMA! TIP: HOW TO USE PRIVATE BROWSING, AND CLEAR CACHE ON SAFARI (IOS/ IPHONE/IPAD,ITOUCH)

We recently showed you how to enable incognito mode, clear cache, and turn off location services onSafari (Mac OS), Google Chrome, Internet Explorerand Firefox.

Fortunately all browsers contain features which allow you to:

– Surf the net without leaving traces on your computer (using “Private browsing” or “incognito mode”)
– Clear cached files (cookies, temp data, images, websites)
– Disable tracking / location services (to prevent websites from knowing your location)

This tutorial shows how you can browse privately on your iOS device, such as on your iPhone, iPad and iTouch, and how to clear your machine of cached browsing data.

1. Settings
Tap the Settings icon (the gearwheel) as shown in the image below

2. Safari
Tap on “Safari” to get to Safari’s settings

3. Private browsing
Tap the “OFF” button next to “Private Browsing” to enable it.

4. To clear all types of cache, cookies and other browsing data, follow these steps:

Clear history, cookies and browsing data by using the buttons highlighted in red on the screenshot below.

And that’s it! Simple.

You will find more advice and tips in our Help Center and also in our forum. Or if you prefer, you can always drop us an email.

Name of the Provider	Website Address
Hide My Ass	Visit Provider
Strong VPN	Visit Provider
Switch VPN	Visit Provider
Pure VPN	Visit Provider
IPVanish VPN	Visit Provider
Hotspot Shield Elite	Visit Provider

HMA! TIP: HOW TO TURN ON PRIVATE BROWSING ON IOS 7

In our recent article “How to stop websites from knowing your location”, we explained how a website or a service can still recognize your location even when you use a VPN or a proxy.

Fortunately all browsers contain features that allow you to:

• - Surf the net without leaving traces on your computer (using “Private browsing” or “incognito mode”)
• - Clear cached files (cookies, temp data, images, websites)
• - Disable tracking / location services (to prevent websites from knowing your location)

This tutorial shows how you you can turn on private browsing in iOS 7. If you’re having any difficulty with activating private browsing, please continue to read to the end of this tutorial for some alternative workarounds.

To begin, tap the Safari icon to open your browser:

Then tap the “+” sign in the top right corner:

1. Now, you have a choice – do you wish to close all the previous browsers you have opened or start a new Private Browser?

1. Next, select the “Private” option in the bottom left corner:
2. 

Note: If you’re having trouble activating private browsing, please try a couple of these workarounds:

1. 1) On the Safari screen tap the blue + sign at the top right hand corner. Then tap the main search box (URL search bar) at top of the screen. The keyboard pops up and the ‘Private’ sign in blue should be in the left right hand corner.
2. 2) It’s also possible that  ‘Restrictions‘ are on. Go to Settings > General > Restrictions and if it says ‘On’ you will need to enter your pin, then go to the ‘Allowed Content’ section and under ‘Websites’ select the option for ‘All Websites.’

Look out for more HMA! tips or if you can’t wait, you can always head to our Help Center or drop us an email.

Name of the Provider	Website Address
Hide My Ass	Visit Provider
Strong VPN	Visit Provider
Switch VPN	Visit Provider
Pure VPN	Visit Provider
IPVanish VPN	Visit Provider
Hotspot Shield Elite	Visit Provider

NEW VERSION OF THE HMA! PRO VPN CLIENT FOR IOS V1.6

We are pleased to tell you that we have released a new version of the HMA! Pro VPN client for iOS, v1.6!

New Feature:

– New search functionality within the servers list

(Please note: The search function is only possible by country name)

If you have any comments or feature requests for the next release, you can always send us an email, join in on our forum or comment on this post – we always love to hear from you!