Google Account Hacked

[MI5]

Just a word of warning to anyone with a Google account.

At 10.45 last night I received a login code from Google (2 step verification process). Shortly after I was emailed to say that Google had blocked suspicious activity on my account. looking into it further  I could see that someone from an ip address that was registered in Georgia, USA had attempted to log in to my account.

This could have been a genuine mistake by someone trying to log into their account or it could have been malicious, but without the 2 step verification it could have been quite serious!

I urge anyone who uses Google to take advantage of the excellent built in security they offer and set up 2 step verification on your account, just in case......

[perksie]

Very good advice, let's all stay safe out there!

[Bambino]

Okay, I followed your advice and set up the 2 step verification process. I also changed my Google password. I can log in online, but now I'm getting a sign-in error message on my phone. I have a very old HTC Desire. When I enter the new password on my phone it says it's incorrect which it can't be as I can sign in on my PC. I'm definitely not typing it wrong on the phone. Any ideas as how I can rectify this? 

[Toby]

Thanks for this MI5,

Safety is so important these days! 😞

[anticpated]

Bambino....if you want a complex password, save it as a txt file on your handset. Open up the file in a editor and copy/paste this into the form. Note: some characters are not recognised on the Android font character map, so make sure no placeholders are being used (replaced by a ?).

http://www.passwordmeter.com/

I recommend this website for setting up unique and hard to crack passwords. 16 characters should be safe although if you want to deter people even further use 64 characters or more.

[Bambino]

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@anticpated wrote:

Bambino....if you want a complex password, save it as a txt file on your handset. Open up the file in a editor and copy/paste this into the form. Note: some characters are recognised on the Android font character map, so make sure no placeholders are being used (replaced by a ?).

http://www.passwordmeter.com/

I recommend this website for setting up unique and hard to crack passwords. 16 characters should be safe although if you want to deter people even further use 64 characters or more.

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Thanks for the reply anticipated, but the problem I'm having isn't with the complexity of the password, it's with not being able to sign in to my account on my phone. When I enter the password that I sign in with on my PC, my phone is bringing up an error message saying that I entered the wrong password or my account has changed. I know the password is correct because I can sign in to Google on my PC. I've rebooted the phone and cleared the cache and it still won't let me sign in. Can't figure out what to do next? Any ideas?

[Bambino]

Problem solved. I went onto my Gmail account online and found a solution. Apparently the 2 step verification doesn't work straight away with Android 2.3 or less. I had to generate an Application Specific Password to get back into my account. Not very easy to understand the instructions on the Google site at first as to how to do this, but I got there in the end. 

[Toby]

Good to hear Bambino

[MI5]

Yes, when you set up the 2 step verification it does warn you that some applications can't support 2 step verification and if you follow through by clicking on "Next" at the bottom of the page it takes you through the process.

[Bambino]

I didn't expect Gmail on my phone to be one of the applications it didn't support. I think having the 2 step verification is a good thing, though. Hopefully if anyone else has the same problem as I did they will be able to refer back to this thread for an answer.