Cyber insurance specialists Towergate Insurance are warning against the danger of email addresses being hacked.
Widespread usage of email addresses can leave people vulnerable to cybercrime, the firm said.
Marc Rocker, Head of Cyber at Towergate – soon to be Everywhen – said:
“After gaining access to your inbox, it’s easy for a cybercriminal to piece together a comprehensive picture of your life and work. From there they can impersonate you. This could involve social engineering attacks against someone you know which might include your clients, signing you up for unwanted services that may send you spam or even using your information for criminal activities on the dark web.”
According to Towergate’s Cyber Security expert, common warning signs of a compromised email include being locked out of your account due to a changed password, unauthorised messages in your sent folder, contacts receiving spam from your address, multiple password reset requests from websites, and a sudden spike in incoming spam.
Marc Rocker explained:
“It is important to act quickly to limit the damage, if you think you’ve been hacked. Firstly, you need to establish how your information was leaked. Was it a data breach. Did you fall victim to a phishing scam? Were you included on an exposed list?
“Websites such as ‘Have I been pwned’ or ‘Norton Breach Detector’ can help identify where your information has been leaked. Once you have identified the source of the data breach, check to see if they have taken any steps to address the problem or informed their users about the next steps.”
If an email account is compromised, he recommends immediately changing the password to a strong, unique one, informing contacts to watch for suspicious messages, and reviewing account settings for changes such as auto-forwarding to an unknown address.
Rocker also advises enabling multifactor authentication, installing antivirus software to detect malicious activity, and, in some cases, creating a new email address and updating all connected accounts.
“These simple steps can help to minimise the risk, and mitigate any potential damage caused by your email address being leaked,” he added.
