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Secure and recover your hijacked YouTube account

Is your Google Account secure? Is your YouTube channel? Do you know what to do if you believe your account was hijacked? 

On Wednesday, March 27, I'm live with Michael Daniels on Tinkering with Tech to talk about Google Account (and YouTube account) security and what to do if you think your account was hijacked. 

Join us live to join the chat or post your questions in the comments here or on the video. 

Run a security checkup on your Google Account (and YouTube): 

1. Sign in to Google and open myaccount.google.com

2. Click the Security tab

3. At the top of the page click Review security tips or if you see a warning symbol click Protect your account

Or go directly to myaccount.google.com/security-checkup/

4. Go through each recommendation and make sure to add 2-step verification, recovery email and phone number, update any compromised passwords, and review third party connections. 

5. Once you have 2-step verification enabled, make sure you have backup codes printed out and stored somewhere secure (NOT in your Google Drive or Android device that requires Google sign-in).

Read on for more information.

Keep your YouTube account and Google account secure

YouTube Help: Secure your YouTube account

To give editors or managers access to your YouTube channel: Move to YouTube Studio Channel Permissions for Brand Accounts

Google Accounts help: 

Google Accounts Product Expert Somnath on Securing your Google Account

Announcement: Use Chrome for real-time Google Safe Browsing

Recover a hacked Google or YouTube account

YouTube Help: Recover a hacked YouTube channel

YouTube Support: FAQs on Hijacked/Hacked Accounts

Google Accounts Help: Secure a hacked or compromised Google Account 

Accounts Product Expert Guide by The Lady from UNCLE: How to attempt Google Account recovery if you didn't set any backup recovery options

YouTube Product Expert Guide by The Didi: How do I recognize a hack - an what can I do?

YouTube Product Expert video by subversiveasset: How to contact YouTube if your channel is hacked or suspended

Examples of how accounts are hijacked

Example of phishing email pretending to be from Team YouTube (the message comes from @youtube.com by sharing a private YouTube video with a phishing link in the video description)

Google's Threat Analysis Group: Phishing campaign targets YouTube creators with cookie theft malware

Even big creators get hacked: How hackers took over Linus Tech Tips

Comments

  1. Google is not indexing my site like before, what is the reason for this? Do you have any information?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I don't. Check your site in Google Search Console, as there may be more details there. My impression is that Google may be indexing less, but I don't have anything to back that up.

      Delete

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