What to Do If Your Email Gets Hacked — The First 15 Minutes

Your email is the master key to your digital life — password resets for banks, social media, and services all flow through it. If someone has access, they can lock you out of everything. Speed matters here. 1) Change your email password immediately from a trusted device. 2) Enable two-factor authentication if you have not already. 3) Check for forwarding rules — hackers often set up auto-forwarding to silently receive copies of all your mail. 4) Review recent sent messages for anything you did not write. 5) Check which apps and devices have active sessions and revoke anything unfamiliar.

After securing your email, change passwords for your most critical accounts: banking, primary social media, and cloud storage. Use unique passwords for each. If the hacker already changed your email password and you cannot get in, use the account recovery process immediately — the longer you wait, the harder recovery becomes.