How Your Gmail Account Can Get Hacked and How To Prevent It

Getting hacked is one of the most common nightmares among internet users, and having your Gmail account hijacked can be both a nerve-wracking and infuriating experience. While it's impossible to completely prevent a dedicated hacker from breaking into an account, by understanding the various ways in which your Gmail account might be vulnerable, you can significantly reduce the risk of being hacked. In this article, we will show you how exactly hackers steal people's Google accounts, what warning signs to look for, and most importantly, give practical advice on how to keep your online data safe and stay secure while using Google services.

With an App

The first method on this list that hackers commonly use when trying to hack into a Gmail account is using an app. This popular Gmail hacking method would be more likely to be used by someone that you know rather than a stranger since it means that they’ll need access to your phone or device.

Basically, how this works is that the person will install the application, such as uMobix or XNSPY, on your device. Once installed, it’s quite a simple matter for the person to set the application up so that it isn’t detected. Once that is done, the person will have access to all of the messages that you send from your messaging apps or social media. Any media that gets sent or stored on your phone. They’ll also have access to your Internet browsing history and can see anything you stream.

Brute Force Attacks

The following method that this person would use to hack your Gmail account would be brute force attacks. While this method isn’t extremely common since it does require a relatively powerful computer, it’s not uncommon. 

A brute force attack is basically when a hacker uses a piece of software that can generate thousands upon thousands of guesses as to what your password might be per minute or second. This means that if you have a relatively simple password, this type of software will make it easy work of guessing what it is.

Dictionary Attacks

The next type of method that a hacker might use to hack your Gmail account would be the use of dictionary attacks. Dictionary attacks are similar to brute force attacks, except they are slightly more specific.

Whereas a brute force attack would try any combination of words and letters, including phrases, to guess your password. Dictionary attacks can do the same thing, except with certain parameters, such as your name or birthday, set by the hacker. 

Keylogging

Keylogging is another very popular method that hackers use to gain access to your Gmail account. The reason that this method is so popular is that it is very simple and easy to use, and it is also very difficult to detect once you have fallen victim.

What happens is that once you have the keylogging software installed on your computer or device, it runs silently in the background. While it is running, it will keep track of all of the keystrokes that you make and log them. If the hacker were to have access to your Gmail account username, all they would need to do is figure out which of the keystrokes relate to your password.

Phishing 

Even though this technique is very old, it is still a reliable method for hackers to gain access to your Gmail account. If you aren’t familiar with what phishing is, it is basically when someone, particularly a hacker, usually pretends to be someone important or sends an email from somewhere official.

They might try to impersonate your bank and send an email asking you to update your password, with a link to your bank’s website. Instead, it won’t be the website of your bank; it will be a fake website designed to save your username and password. 

Tips for Safety

One of the best things that you can do to stay safe and ensure that your Gmail account doesn’t get hacked is to always check the sender's information when receiving emails. You should also install antivirus software so that it can identify any potential threats, whether those are links or files.

More importantly, if you are using a mobile device, you should never install applications from unknown sources since these applications aren’t verified by the Play Store to be safe and could contain malware or viruses.