[ExI] nasty hijacking of mygmailaccount...extropian.pharmer at gmail.com

[BillK]

On 6/24/09, Harvey Newstrom wrote:
> Somebody mentioned that Google mail is not hackable.  Ha!  It is severely
> insecure, and easily hijackable, as are most webmail systems.  Reference
> this article from the BBC:
>
>  BBC NEWS    2009/06/19
>  Google tackled on e-mail security
>
>  Google has been asked to explain why it is not making its Gmail e-mail
> service more secure.
>


That was my comment. I was answering Morris' plea for instructions on
how to hack back into his gmail account. I told him that he couldn't.

I agree that default gmail accounts can be hacked in the same way that
any web account can be hacked, by hackers using scanners to decode the
message stream. But even if he could do this, it would not help Morris
reclaim his gmail account.

I recommend that the https setting should be set on all gmail account
for extra security. It is at the foot of the first page of Settings
(General).

I have also installed the CustomizeGoogle extension to my Firefox browser.
<http://www.customizegoogle.com/>

As well as other improvements, for added security it allows https to be set for
Gmail, Calendar, Docs, Reader and Web History.
You can also anonymize the Google cookie UID if you don't want Google
itself to track your web viewing and build up a profile on you.


BillK