10 Simple Ways to Protect Your Account

An hour, my account was stolen. Someone got my password and added his email to my account information as owner. Thanks to Allah, I noticed it once it happened and changed my password and security questions on all my accounts.


May be you are wondering how it happened. Well, one of my contacts (I know her in person) started a chat with me. Talk was very usual (Hi , how r u?, fine, ..etc), I knew later that it was the person who tried to steal my account. Then, he asked me to check some link for him. I was busy talking to other and doing different things, I didn't pay attention to the URL. I only noticed yahoo.com in it, so I though it was a harmless link. It opened a Sign-in page similar to Yahoo! Sign-in page, but of course with different URL that I didn't notice. 

Bottom line, I handed him my email with its password just because I didn't pay enough attention.



As it is the first time to go through this, it made realise few things that most of us simply miss. So, here are few teps:

Before your password is stolen:

• Always change your password from time to time. Don't keep them for more than two months at most.
  
• Always check any URL you click on, especially if you got it in an email or something similar. No matter how busy you are, always check URLs.
  
• Create a home email for your account. A home email (or alternative email) is an email you set so you can receive through it updates about your account. Set it to an email that is different from the main email.
  
•  Make sure you set security questions, it can be helpful in retrieving your password.
• Don't keep sensitive information about you on your email; e.g. credit card numbers, paid accounts, social security numbers... etc.
  

 After your password is stolen:
Well, it depends on how fast will you react on this. These are simple ways to do only if you reacted faster that the thief.

• Change your password as soon as you can.
• Remove thief's account from your account information.
• Change your security questions. Try to make the answers different from the old ones.
  
• Change password of all other accounts that you keep their passwords on the stolen account.
• Change password of other accounts that have same password as stolen account (if there are).

 If you know other ways that help in protecting our accounts, please feel free to share them with us and post them in comments below.