Gmail is the most popular email service to date, thanks to its creator, Google, the name which is often associated with user-friendliness and security. Despite what the company does to keep your emails safe, you may still be preyed on by hackers, phishers and scammers from all over the Web.

Well, the good news is that Google has been forging its Gmail security system by adding new security features, most of which we do not know about.

Logging Out

Whenever not using your own computer, make sure you end you authenticated session with Google by signing out once your work is over. However if you forgot to sign out you need not panic. You could open a new session by signing in from another computer and use remote sign out to close any possibly open sessions.

Strong Password

Ordinarily you should change your password at least once a year. I definitely do. And also make sure your password is not a very easy string but a combination of characters and numbers. You could also make it more secure by using case-sensitive characters or special characters. You can read earlier tutorials on How to create strong and smart password and also check your password strength with brute force calculator.

Beware of Phishing

Always make sure of the website address in the address bar of your browser before you enter your Google account credentials. It could possibly be trying to steal your access info. If you are unsure of the page’s origin refrain from signing in there. Same goes for emails you might receiver asking for your password. Beware of these.

Use of HTTPS

Your computer rapidly sends and receives data from the Google servers when you access your account. If you enable this service from the Settings page, your data is encrypted before transmission. You will also see the HTTPS instead of HTTP when you access Gmail site after enabling this.

Review Attachments

Although Google has inbuilt virus scan features for both incoming and outgoing attachments, still its advised not to open an attachment that you have not been expecting. It could carry malware that might harm your computer. You could mail the person back, if curious, and ask about the attachment first.

Use Authentication Icon

Recently Gmail added a new feature Authentication icon for Ebay and paypal, and we are expecting that they will increase the no. of websites in the list. In this feature any email coming from ebay or paypal site will have a verified icon else no icons means, that email is a phishing email.

Update Recovery Info

Whenever you lose access to your account, by losing the password for instance, this information comes in handy and helps you restore your account access. So make sure this info is always updated. Your security answer should be unique and should not be easily crack down using hit and trial method. You could also include a secondary email address and your mobile number where you will receive the account reset link if the need arises.