How was my email account hacked?

There are several possible causes and solutions for an email hack. If you have learned from a reliable source that your GMX account has been hacked, please see the information below. Please also reset your auto-login and make sure you have taken all other necessary account security measures.

Possible reasons for a hacked account
If your account or password was hacked, please see below for the possible causes and the security measures you can take:

You have entered your login credentials on a phishing site.
A phishing email can be e.g. a fake email from a company or government agency asking you to follow a link and log in with your user name and password. The link leads to a fake website and the data entered there ends up with the scammer, who can now use it to log in to your account. If you believe you have inadvertently entered your GMX account login on a fraudulent site, please take the following steps:
  1. Secure your GMX account by following the instructions under What do I do if I suspect my email has been hacked?
  2. Report the phishing site to us using this form.

You use the same password on multiple websites.
If you have registered on a website using your GMX email address and the password that you also use for GMX, your GMX password is also at risk if the database of that website is hacked. Please change your GMX password immediately. As a general rule, you should avoid using the same password for multiple sites.

How to change your GMX password

  1. Click Home and My Account.
  2. On the left side, click Security Options.
  3. Under Password click Change password.
  4. Enter your current password.
  5. Enter the new password in the two lower boxes.
  6. Confirm the new password by clicking Save changes.
    Info:

    Please note that a strong password does not need to be changed regularly. However, it should consist of at least 8 characters, preferably 12 or more. The longer your password, the harder it is to crack. It is also best to use a combination of letters (upper- and lowercase), numbers and special characters.

Your computer has been infected with a virus.
One possible cause of an email hack is that your computer is infected with a virus or trojan horse that spies on your keyboard input. Please perform a complete virus scan on your computer. If you do not have an antivirus program on your computer, please install one to perform the scan. If the scan detects malware on your computer, please follow the program’s instructions for removing it, then reset your password.

Reset your automatic logins
If you suspect an email hack and you have saved auto-logins for our Android app, iOS app, or MailCheck browser add-on, please follow the instructions below to reset them:
  1. Click Home and My Account.
  2. On the left side, click Security Options.
  3. Under Reset auto-login, click Reset auto-login now.
  4. Enter your GMX password and confirm by clicking Save changes.

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