Although Gmail has always been known as one of the safest emailing services in the world, it has come under fire recently due to a very complex ransomware attack that took developers a lot of time to completely eradicate and solve. We’re talking about the notorious WannaCry scam, which infected hundreds of thousands of users before Google even caught on to it. While the company has since added extra security layers to the platform, you can also do your best to stay safe. Here are five tips for that.
- Disable less secure apps
This is simple and a no brainer. Go to My account > Connected apps & sites and disable ‘Allow less secure apps’.
- Perform a security check up at least once a month
Always checking up on your account’s security levels yourself is a good way to stay protected. Go to the Security Checkup page in your My account section to perform one right now.
- Monitor account activity
Monitoring your account’s activity is a good way to discover any suspicious logins or anything of the sort. There is a Last Account Activity section at the very bottom of your account page, so you can check that out right now and see if there’s anything suspicious on there.
- Enable HTTPS connections
Websites that start with https:// instead of the simple http:// are encrypted, and thus more secure. In order to turn this on for your Gmail account, go to Settings > Set Browser Connection.
- Set up two step verification
You can turn on the two-step verification option from the Sign in & Security Panel of your account. Click on Password & Sign-in Methods, and you’ll find it there. After you turn it on, you will receive a code on your phone that you need to type in.