How in the Tech

Determine if your Gmail Account has been Hacked

By Adam Myers ⋅ March 26, 2009 ⋅

Do you suspect your Gmail account has been hacked? Google has a feature available from within Gmail where you can see if more than one person or computer is logged into your account. If you are concerned that someone is accessing and reading your email without your knowledge this type of information can be revealed with this feature.

1. First, log into your Gmail account. Near the very bottom of the screen you’ll encounter a line that says Last account activity and a corresponding time period.



2. Clicking on the Details link will initiate a popup with a bit more detailed information such as:
   • Access Type – browser, mobile, POP, IMAP
   • IP Address – the computer address that the request came from
   • Date/Time – the time the access occurred.

   

3. If someone were to access your Gmail account while you are already logged in the last account activity line would change to reflect the situation. Here you can see my account is currently opened in two locations – thankfully both were initiated by me.

This is a wonderful feature to use if you suspect something strange is going on. While it is not the silver-bullet, you can see that I have three locations of access, it does help uncover anything foul. If you suspect you’ve been compromised, use the Sign out all other sessions button from Step 2 and change your password immediately.