4.93 million Gmail accounts hacked: Check if yours is safe

A Russian hacker has posted the usernames
and passwords of 4.93 million Google accounts, leading to
a lot of anxiety among users whether or not their accounts
are safe.

If you want to check if your Google account, which is the
gateway to your Gmail, Plus, Drive, Hangout, YouTube
accounts as well, has been compromised, then simply
click this link and provide your Gmail ID.
In case you do not want to provide your email ID on this
website, you can hide the last three characters of the
username, for example abc***@gmail.com instead of
abcdef@gmail.com. The website will then display all the
Google usernames that start with 'abc'.
In case your password has been hacked, then immediately
change it by answering the security questions that you set
while signing up. Also, enable two-step verification for
your account in Settings.
Even if your account has not been compromised, it is
advisable to enable two-step verification.

This week's news that a Russian crime ring has
amassed some 1.2 billion username and password
combinations makes now a good time to review ways
to protect yourself online.
The hacking misdeeds were described in a New York
Times story based on the findings of Hold Security, a
Milwaukee firm that has a history of uncovering
online security breaches.
Hold Security, called the data "the largest known
collection of stolen internet credentials." Hold's
researchers did not identify the origins of the data
or name the victim websites, citing nondisclosure
agreements. The company also said it didn't want to
name companies whose websites are still vulnerable
to hacking, according to the NYT report.
If there's reason to believe any of your passwords
might have been compromised, change them
immediately. One of the best things you can do is to
make sure your passwords are strong. Here are
seven ways to fortify them: