Need some advice on gmail account (hacked?)

[Turiel]

So I recently got an alert from gmail saying that my account was accessed by United States (KS) (thriveverify.com:64.186.146.35) from an "unknown" access type. I checked thriveverify.com and it seems to be some sort of website that finds people for you. I changed my password just in case (along with pretty much my password for all the other websites I regularly visit) but how much should I be worried right now? I'm not sure how to respond since it seems to be a website and not an individual that's accessed my account. My previous password was complicated enough (by complicated I mean something like fj2n32ojtgw0 and not th1s1smyp4$$w0rd) so I have no idea how anyone could've gotten it in the first place. -_-;;;;

[thegleek]

I would be extremely careful with that. That warning email from gmail might be a spoof itself (check the email headers, etc...) - and do NOT click on any links they may provide! It could be a scam into getting access to your account!

[Turiel]

It wasn't an e-mail (I wouldn't fall for that!!) it was a warning message that pops up directly from gmail and you can see the details by clicking "Details" located in the bottom right of any gmail page. ALL of the IPs listed on the list is my home PC except for that one, which was highlighted in red. I feel a lot more comfortable now that I've changed pretty much all the passwords for important sites but I wanted reassurance from someone who was a lot more savvy at this kind of stuff than I. It's my first time getting this kind of message so I'm more or less a virgin in these kinds of problems. >.<

[thegleek]

Yeah good find. I've never encountered any warning message of that sort from gmail.

[SecretSquirrel]

You get those messages when someone attempts to access your account unsuccessfully a number of times. I have triggered it on myself when I kept mis-typing the password. Probably nothing to worry about, but changing your password is good. Watch for any bounced messages and if you start getting thing, then it is possible someone actually did access your account.

I had it happen on my yahoo mail account. Once they have access to your account, they use it to send a whole bunch of outbound spam via the (now authenticated) SMTP relay.

--SS

[Washer]

I had a friend who had a similar message with the IP coming out of China. You need to verify that your computer is clean. Chances of you being "hacked" are slim to none, chances of you have some malicious software on your computer looking for passwords is what I'd check for.

[dmjifn]

If you're really worried about it, you can turn on 2-step verification in gmail (actually your google account).
When you access gmail from a new device, they will text you a six digit number which you have to enter in addition to your password. This expires about every month or so. You can also receive from other mobile devices or a landline, or pregenerate some codes you can save to your PC.

I've been doing this for about a year and it's been fine. Then again, I only access from 3 devices.

[fedor57]

I am from Russia, the same IP United States (thriveverify.com:64.186.146.35) has accessed my account by Feb, 4. I wonder if it was successful login or just trying different passwords. Let me know about any your findings. My e-mail is fedor57 (at) ... .com

[chuckula]

One other thing: Just to be extra careful, update or obfuscate your forgotten password question answers (e.g. those annoying questions like "Where did you go to school" etc.). There have been cases where attackers hacked email accounts not by actually guessing the password, but by doing research on the victim to figure out the answer to the forgotten password questions and then hijacking the account by changing the password.

[njenabnit]

Also, keep in mind that if you have given services access to your gmail inbox, it may show up on that list.

One example of this is on linkedin. They put a log in box for your gmail account right on the main page to browse through your contact list and find any matches for user emails that they have to try and link you up. They put it right in the middle of the main page, so if you are not careful it is easy to think "Oh a login box. I must not be logged in". It is especially tricky if you use the same password on both since you may think you are logging into your linked in account and actually be checking into gmail.