14 DAY TRIAL // Google is advising Gmail users on how to secure their accounts by having them go through a checklist of tasks that involve following basic security principles and verifying Gmail specific options.
Google has shown an increased concern over the security of Gmail users after a spying attack has targeted its network earlier this year.
Dubbed Aurora by the security industry, the attack also affected two dozen other fortune 500 companies and the search giant said at the time that the email accounts of Chinese human rights activists were accessed.
Following the incident, Google even started warning some users about access attempts on their accounts, that originate from China.
The Gmail security checklist can be accessed by clicking on the Help link from the email account and then the checklist one in the left menu.
The list is split into five parts, each containing several tasks. As the users go through them and check the completed items, they are kept informed about their progress.
The first part concerns general computer security and instructs people to scan for malware, update their operating system and install updates for third party popular applications, like Adobe Reader, Flash Player and Java.
The second part refers to the security of the browser used to access the Gmail account. Google advises users to keep their browsers up to date and to be very careful about add-ons that require their Google Account credentials.
In part three, users are asked to change their password twice a year, review the websites that have access to their account from the "My Account > Change authorized websites" menu and also update password recovery options like alternate email, mobile phone or secret question.
Part four deals with actual Gmail settings. These include enabling the "always use HTTPS" option, as well as checking the "Filters" and the "Forwarding and POP/IMAP" settings to make sure that emails are not being forwarded to other accounts.
The company also suggests verifying the "Send Mail As", "Get mail from other accounts", and "Grant access to your account" options, as well as checking the "Last Account Activity" list for suspicious IP addresses.
Finally, the last part of the checklist is called "Reminders" and contains general advices like not giving out login information to other websites, always logging out after reading email or clearing browser cookies, cache, stored passwords and autocomplete data periodically.