Google warns users about the most common methods hackers use to access your Gmail account

Google, in collaboration with the University of California, has studied the ecosystem of credential theft and trading in dark web markets, one of the preferred methods of cybercriminals, and was able to identify 788,000 potential victims of keyloggers, that is, those programs that capture what the user is typing or what they see through their screen, in order to send it to an external server that is controlled by the hacker himself.

This practice, used by cybercriminals to trick users into entering their data on a website controlled by the attacker, is called phishing. It is the biggest threat to users, followed by keyloggers and security breaches in third-party services. Users leave their trail on the internet in many places; their digital footprint can be seen on social media, forms, financial records, photos, or files uploaded to the cloud.

Often, access to all these online platforms is through our email address and a password, which is sometimes insufficient for these types of risks. In fact, a cybercriminal can find our password if it's not very secure, or even through the security questions that allow you to find or reset your password. Once they've logged in with your credentials, they have access to your banking information, personal files, and so on.

Cybersecurity is increasing

Two-step verification is the most effective and immediate way, along with complementary security measures, promoted by services like Gmail, to prevent immediate account hijacking, but it's often not enough. Cybercriminals may have all sorts of tools ready to intercept two-step verification SMS messages or even the device's geolocation.

Therefore, it's more advisable to use more specific authentication methods, such as Google Authenticator or the Twitter app. But if you want to increase security, you can opt for newer options like facial recognition or fingerprint readers, which can be found, for example, in the new iPhone X.