Someone managed to hack into my adwords account and spent £500 one night. I realised and informed google who were really quick off the mark and refunded the amount, advising me to get new logon details. Adwords them put some sort of limiter on us because we had really low click throughs, and eventually one month Gone we are back to normal. I am really scared of this happenig again - its bad for business! What can I do to prevent this? I have a firewall and anti virus software on my computer. Thanks FH
If you are really concerned (borderline paranoid) about spyware and such, you could use a computer which is isolated. In other words have a separate computer which is only connected to the internet to use Google adwords. It shouldn't be networked with other computers. The important aspect would be that it would never be used to surf the net. Use a different computer for internet surfing. A rock solid password should go without saying. The Adwords password should be used only for Adwords. Finally, Anti-fishing software and education might help prevent this sort of problem also. I have teenagers, and they aren't allowed to use my work computer at all. They'll click on anything.
Beware of phishing website. You could have given your password accidentally on a malicious website and that could happen. The idea of using important web accounts on a separate computer is good. However, a better solution would be to install a virtual machine with, for example Ubuntu (linux) and access important websites there, without surfing other websites. You won't have the fear of spyware/malware/viruses, and it'll be safe.
An often-changed strong password is the key. Check out a free program like KeePass. It not only keeps up with your passwords but it will also help you generate very strong ones. Other than that it is basic education about safe use of the internet.
500p that's a huge amount. i had lots of Spywares in my pc too but i just buy a new anti virus and clean every thing and then i change my password once in a month. that works for me. and thanks for other member for useful advise.
Hacking google account is very dangerous, it may get your account hacked, so maintain different passwords.
I'm wondering how can someone hack your Google account. You must've had a super simple password or your computer had a powerful virus/spyware app running on your computer.
I almost fell for a phishing email that looked like it was from Adwords. Luckily, I was already logged in to Adwords, so I didn't click the link. However, it was giving me a headache as I kept thinking my credit card info was invalid. Lol.