Google's 5 Steps for Re-Securing Your Gmail Account After an Attack

The fallout from the DigiNotar hack is not over yet, but the worst seems to have passed. While there are still many questions, one thing that's clear is that the forged certificates were used on a large scale in Iran.

For those targeted, it may be too little too late, but Google has now issued some instructions and recommendations for users in Iran to increase their online safety going forward.

There's nothing new or groundbreaking in Google's recommendations, but it's worth checking them out even if you believe you're taking enough precautions as it is.

Users in Iran will be contacted directly by Google and will receive the same instructions for dealing with the incident.

"We learned last week that the compromise of a Dutch company involved with verifying the authenticity of websites could have put the Internet communications of many Iranians at risk, including their Gmail," Eric Grosse, VP Security Engineering at Google, wrote.

"While Google’s internal systems were not compromised, we are directly contacting possibly affected users and providing similar information below because our top priority is to protect the privacy and security of our users," he said.

The first, easiest and most important recommendation for users in Iran and for anyone that has reasons to suspect that their account may have been compromised is to change the password. Iranian users may have already been asked to change it.

Of course any self-respecting attacker would take steps to prevent users from changing the password or change it themselves so that the user is left out.

In this case, it's important to have all of the password recovery options set up, whether this means an alternate email, which presumably has not been compromised, or a phone, that attackers would not have access to.

Most of the time, attackers don't want users to know that they have access so they will try to fly under the radar.

One way making sure that your account is not accessible by others is to check the websites and applications that have been granted access to it, there may be entries that you have not added yourself.

At the same time, it's important to check whether forwarding addresses or delegated accounts have been set up that you have no connection to. Finally, Google urges users to stay alert and don't dismiss security warnings or notifications from websites or their browser.