What to do if your Oxy email account gets hacked
In an effort to reduce the amount of damage that can occur to your account and others on the internet, Google will lock your email account if it appears to be compromised, and contact the Oxy ITS department to let us know that your account has been disabled. We will attempt to contact you via any contact details you may have provided to Oxy, and if needed, will reach out through ResEd, Human Resources, your Department admin, or the Dean's Office.
Before we can unlock your email account we will need you to change your Oxy password via the my.oxy.edu portal and let us know when that has been completed. (Be sure that it is a complex password so that it won’t be easily guessed).
After your account has been unlocked
After we unlock your email account, please follow these steps to check what, if anything, has been affected within your account:
- Check for any filters, email forwards, or autoresponders on the account (Found under Gear Icon > Settings > Filters and Blocked Addresses tab)
- Check for additional or missing email folders (labels) (Found under Gear Icon > Settings > Labels tab)
- Do a complete virus scan on any computer that they use if it was potentially the result of a virus or other malware (when it doubt, scan!) Your Oxy PC should come with Sophos anti-virus software. If you are using your personal PC, by downloading and installing Sophos' free versions for Windows or Mac
- Let us know right away if network resources (Moodle, myOxy, Oxypedia etc) or network files (files on G: H: I: etc. drives) are functioning improperly or missing; we have a limited time window to recover files
- Reset password on any non-Oxy accounts or services linked to this account (bank accounts, shopping accounts, credit card accounts, etc)
- Monitor bank accounts, credit reports, etc for any unauthorized activity
- Periodically monitor email for a few weeks to ensure that unauthorized emails are no longer being sent; if you find they are still being sent please contact us right away
- Consider setting up or resetting security questions in myOxy (Answer different questions or provide answers with an additional character included, something to make the answers or questions different)
If you need help with any of these steps or personal assistance with getting your account re-activated please come into the Academic Commons / Library and visit the Help Desk counter and we will help you get this issue handled.