Email plays a vital role in both our professional and personal lives. For businesses in particular, email offers an essential method of communication, connecting you not just with your shareholders and suppliers but giving you direct access to your customer base. Email unlocks a number of opportunities to enhance efficiency, productivity and convenience company-wide. It’s also super-fast and cheap, with emails able to reach recipients in a matter of seconds and costing the same regardless of the distance travelled or number of people you’re sending an email to. As well as being an integral part of the way most companies do business, they are unfortunately a well-travelled route for those wishing to gain unauthorised access to your infrastructure.

Fraud and hacking are now the number one crimes in Britain with official figures revealing that there are just over two million cases per year. It’s costing UK businesses and individuals £2 million per day too. The scale of the issue is so bad that the financial services industry and police are finding it difficult to manage cases, let alone get justice for the victims at the centre. A fact that means companies have to protect themselves and their profits from scammers from all angles. There has been a significant rise in cyber criminals targeting emails, but knowing the signs that your account has been hacked is the first step to protecting yourself and your emails. Read on to discover five signs that your email account has been hacked…

You can’t get into your email account

Many hackers change the password associated with your account to prevent you from accessing your emails. If you can’t sign into your account and you didn’t change the password, then chances are someone has changed it for you. This is usually one of the very first things most hackers do after infiltrating your account.

You see emails that you don’t remember sending

Many hackers don’t change the password, giving them more time to use your account for unsolicited activity. Checking your sent folder for emails that you haven’t sent is a must. If you find some, you might not be the only one using your account.

You’ve received password reset emails you didn’t request

Your inbox can also alert you of any suspicious activity. Many hackers recognise that most users utilise the same email account to access other websites and try to reset your password via these sites to gain access to these too. If you spot password reset emails that you didn’t request, then your account may have been hacked.

You or your contacts are receiving unexpected emails

As well as password reset emails, you may be receiving other emails from resources that you don’t remember contacting. It’s not just you who will be affected, every contact in your email account will be at risk so make sure you inform them if your email account has been compromised.

Your IP log is showing different addresses

Each time you sign in to or use your email account, your IP address will be logged. Your IP address is essentially your digital address and will state the physical location of where the log in took place. If different IP addresses showing different physical locations appear on this log, you may have been hacked. Accessing your IP address log varies between email service providers, but a quick Google search will reveal how you can access your account’s specific IP address log.

Think your email account has been hacked? Don’t waste any time! Get in touch with us now to find the support you need to stop hackers in their tracks.