A few days after writing a controversial blog article about poser Twitter accounts, I was surprised to find two confirmation emails from malicious sites about my registration with them. The first one was from an adult site while the second email was from a random chat site.
Now I'm quite sure I wasn't the one who registered for an account with them. My guess is that the same people or groups of people who were involved in the poser accounts issue were trying to harm me.
Anyway, what I did was checked Gmail security log feature in order to see whether my Google email account was hacked. If you have encountered the same issue before or you think your account has been compromised, this is something you might find helpful.
'Last account activity' is an email security feature of Gmail that gives you information about the most recent activity of your account. This includes information on when your account was last accessed using a regular web browser, a POP email client such as Thunderbird and Outlook, a mobile device, third-party applications and many others. Google will also show the list of IP address, associated location, time and date of when your email account was accessed.
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A screenshot of how the 'Last account activity' log looks like. |
When you find an unknown IP address, it may be indicative that your account was accessed by another person. When this happens, it is highly recommended that you change your password ASAP before its too late. If your email was accessed by a third-party application that you did not authorize or no longer use, it is best to disconnect them.
To access the 'Last account activity' log, simply click the Details link next to the Last account activity line at the bottom right of any Gmail page. You can also see activity for your entire Google account. Just go to https://security.google.com/ and click Recent activity from the Security menu found on the left sidebar. If you want to make your Google account even more secure I created this guide on how to secure Gmail account from hackers on my personal blog.
As a blogger, protecting our email accounts is very important. Most of us, particularly those who use the Blogger platform use Gmail account in order to login. Can you imagine losing access to your blog? The horror! This is the reason why I activated 2-step verification. You can learn more about it on my 'how to' post above.
Please share your thoughts on this issue. If you have additional security tips, do share in the comments box below.
About The Author:
Jane loves to explore what the internet has to offer. It is her personal mission to help people (in her own little way) find solutions by making use of available resources online. You can find her regularly blogging at her personal site, JaneVestil.com.
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Philippines was hit by a super typhoon Yolanda that killed thousands of people and the survivors homeless with nowhere to go, no food and clean water. The survivors hoped for the government's immediate help but days came by without any help. Some camped out hoping to escape the devastation and to search for food to survive. If not because of Anderson Cooper's CNN report, the whole world will not know about the how bad the disaster was. Foreign respondent came in first to help and still the Philippines government were nowhere to find.
Where is Noynoy and his administration? Suddenly the country was left behind with no government running the country. The greedy and corrupt politicians, the Senators and Congressmen who were only after PDAF all are out of sight.
Days before the Typhoon, Noynoy was saying the government is well-prepared to handle the emergency. Reassuring the people that there should be nothing to worry about. On his televised speech, he assured the assured the public of that the government is well-prepared to face super typhoon which will directly hit Samar and Leyte at midnight. C130 aircrafts are fully mission capable to respond to those in need, adding that 32 airplanes and helicopters from the Air Force are on standby together with the Philippine Navy’s 20 ships which are positioned in Cebu, Bicol, Cavite and Zamboanga. He said t relief goods are also pre-positioned in many of the areas expected to be affected by the typhoon.
Now he comes back to blame the local government as being unprepared especially Tacloban for being unprepared. Was he blind to know that that even the local government people were mostly themselves victims of Yolanda. And that many of those evacuation centers were hardly hit. Noynoy, instead of showing leadership and just work and be a Presidential, he is acting like nothing is inside his brain.
Days after the typhoon, evacuation center are ready to accommodate all the victims and the relief and rescue operations were well on its way. The President even said, “all national roads have been reopened and most national airports are back to operating levels.” But all of this was just a press release. The President only exposed himself as incompetent at his job.
"Yung Tacloban, hesitant lang ako. Para bang hindi ganun ka prepared...compared to other areas...Siguro I will reserve comments muna at this point in time hangang mas makumpleto natin yung datos," the President said in a briefing at the National Disaster Risk Reduction Management Council (NDRRMC). Noynoy ambushed interview by the BB he still put all the blame to the “LGU's.’
Act like a real President Noynoy. Grow up and face your duty. You were on that position because of the Filipino citizen who voted for you, hoping that you will make a difference in running the country at its best.
Anderson Cooper was in Tacloban during typhoon Haiyan doing this job as a reporter without realizing that he saved thousands of people. The news that he delivered caught attention to the whole world . He was like asking the Philippines government to move their lazy butt to help the survivors. If not for Mr Cooper the foreign media and the world would never know what the real account of the "Yolanda" devastation is. Because of his coverage, help came in from all over the world. The government of the Philippines seems so quiet after the typhoon, those corrupt politicians where nowhere to be found. They just disappeared, left the country into agony.
Mr. Cooper saw people who were trying to fight for their life to lives. He served as an eye opener to our government. The whole world learned that the Filipinos cannot rely on the Philippine government in crisis like this. With the devastation's going on, some corrupt politicians even bother to put their names on the relief goods.
A ready for distribution relief goods from Indonesian , was repacked as per order of the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) only because "they" want to repackaged using a different pouch with markings "DSWD Relief Goods, Not For Sale" instead of sending them straight to the affected areas. It is sad to know that in times like these our government still want to take the credit out of Indonesia, one form of stealing normal to Philippines government.
"When we volunteered, we were told to open and segregate relief goods that came from Indonesia earlier, even though these were already packed in pouches and ready for distribution. I don't understand why they won't distribute them directly when in fact they are already packed. Almost all of us who volunteered did not understand why there was no sense of urgency. The goods are ready but they are doing things that cause delay. Then for some packs that we already segregated, we were told to open once again because they should not be placed in sacks marked with DSWD but should be placed in those sacks marked with NFA. This is another delay. My heart ached as I took out the contents of the pouch to re-segregate. If those donations that we received were immediately distributed to the victims of Yolanda then they wouldn't go hungry and wait for death. My heart ached because the foreign nations are thinking of making the process of delivery faster yet our government doesn't think about it. Why do we need to re-pack and segregate those relief goods that are already prepared by the other countries?
We went home and discontinued our service. While opening and segregating the contents of the pouches, I felt pity on those people who were not immediately provided with help. I felt ashamed that other countries thought of how to send relief goods faster while our government puts them "on hold" if they are not yet repacked or counted.
I am frustrated. I am angry. I feel hopeless.
Lesson learned, I won't volunteer for the government anymore. It's much better if I volunteer for Private sectors."
____
DSWDs response:
Dear Volunteer,
I am writing this note to shed explanation about your FB post discouraging other volunteers to help the government in its relief efforts and your alleged accusation that individually packed donations from Indonesia in a pouch were opened and was not directly sent to ST Yolanda victims and further placed in a plastic bag with markings "DSWD Relief Goods, Not For Sale".
You see, it is a must to check and ensure that all relief goods particularly food items are fit for human consumption and in good condition (expiry dates are checked before they are dispatch).
In the case of the Indonesian donation, there is a need to separate the bottled items ( condiments, catsup, seasonings) in one container and mark it 'fragile ' to avoid damage or breaking it.
Food donations are segregated according to its kind for even distribution to the recipients to avoid duplication , unjust share and comparison ( others may receive only sardines while the others corned beef)
There is also a need to put the goods in a plastic bag with a ' Not for Sale' print so that no one can tamper, put sticker or picture and claim it as theirs, after all these goods came from us , the taxpayers.
I hope this simple explanation catches you so that other volunteers will not be discouraged and continue to help.
Believe it or not, more than a thousand kind-hearted volunteers line-up in a day to help with a smile, who do not count cost as they know that for every Family Pack they can wrap, one hungry family is fed.
_____
Ang mga napadala dayon nga relief goods gikan Indonesia nga packed in a pouch and ready to distribute na maoy gipabungkag ug gipanglahi lahi ang sulod sa among pagvolunteer. Wala ko kasabot ngano dili nalang idiritso ug hatag nga naka-pack naman. Ug maskin kami halos tanan nga nagvolunteer didto wala kasabot ngano murag walay sense of urgency nga ang ready na unta himoan paman jud ug higayon nga malangay. Ug amoa nang nalahi lahi ang uban gipayabo kay dili daw sa sako nga naay DSWD isulod kay didto sa naay NFA. Kaduhang kalangay. Gasakit akong dughan samtang gipangkuha nako ang sulod sa pouch ug gipangbuwag. Kung sa pagdawat ato nga mga donation diritso ihatod sa mga biktima ni Yolanda, dili sila magutman ug maghulat mamatay. Nagsakit akong boot nga ang ubang nasod naghuna huna nga mapaspas ang atoa sang gobyerno wala ra sa ilang huna huna. Ngano mag cge paman ug repack ug pamungkag sa mga giandam na daan sa laing nasod.
Nanguli mi ug giputol namo among pagserbisyo. Kay samtang gipangbungkag nako ang sulod sa pouch' nalooy ko sa mga tawo nga wala dayon naabtan ug hinabang. Naulaw ko sa mga nasod nga nag effort nga mapaspas ug padala sa ilang donation samtang atong gobyerno gipanghold lang ang mga donation kay kung wala pa na repack, wala pa naihap.
I am frustrated. I am angry. I feel hopeless.
Lesson learned, dili nako mo-volunteer sa gobyerno. Mas maayo sa private sectors nlang.
" While I was looking at the pouch before unpacking them, all I am thinking is "Someone needs to receive this right away!" Least of my concern at that moment is the idea of corruption. Yes, I am open to that idea but once again, all I really want to happen is the urgent distribution. I am concerned about the delay. Naa jud sa akong mind, this disaster pack wilL save someone's life in that very moment. I know everyone in here have voiced their opinion. When you're in a battle and someone's gonna die, and a bottle of water will save that person's life, you don't wait for someone to bring you a glass so that you can pour the water in before you let him drink it. You can actually let him drink directly from the bottle. The reason that I can not also provide the names of the staffs in DSWD is that when I jumped in to help, I didn't really find it necessary to know them. I had no plans of blogging about it. Had I known that those will happen, I could've collected names. All I know that night was that I couldn't go on with the task, I wouldn't want to continue the task - if I don't believe and agree with the process, what's the point of me being there. We just wanted to leave and so we did. Then we realized it bugged us and left us in a state of disbelief while we were on our way home. When something eats you up inside, especially when saying your part probably change things, then you got to say it. So, it was Friday night 15th of November at 9:30 PM at Mactan Air Base Sangi. I think that information can give the names of the people in charged that time. I don't care about who they really were. I just want changes. The least we can do is sabotage the TIMELY relief efforts of those countries who helped us."