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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