Recovering a hacked account
A step by step guide to recovering online accounts.
Whether it's your email, a social media account, or your online bank, losing access to a digital account can be stressful. This guidance explains what you can do to minimise the damage, and how you can regain access to your accounts.
How to tell if you've been hacked
Check your online accounts to see if there's been any unauthorised activity. Things to look out for include:
- being unable to log into your accounts
- changes to your security settings
- messages or notifications sent from your account that you don't recognise
- logins or attempted logins from strange locations or at unusual times
- unauthorised money transfers or purchases from your online accounts
Steps to take if your account has been hacked
Visit the provider's official website and follow their account recovery process. Most major services have a dedicated route for compromised accounts. Use a device you trust, and avoid links sent to you in unsolicited messages.
If you can't recover your account
In some cases it may not be possible to recover an account. If so, create a new one, tell your contacts you've abandoned the old account, and update any bank, utility or shopping websites with your new details. If the incident involved money or personal data, report it to your national police portal — your report feeds into Europe-wide investigations coordinated by EC3.