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Ask HN: How do I get my Google account back?

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Re: Ask HN: How do I get my Google account back?

#41

Post by Beta-7 »

Dayshine wrote: post #20
franciscop wrote: post #15

I wonder if you are in Europe or somehow related? Would anyone know of any success case where you can GDPR them to receive all the data associated to you in this way? It's not "your account", but at least might give you your data back.

And an interesting follow-up: Would this not continue to apply in an ongoing basis? Just because you've lost access doesn't mean your gmail doesn't continue to receive emails, and if those emails are considered personal data, what stops you continuing to send data access requests to help yourself migrate?

How fast does Google respond with your data? I know Facebook's data export took me at least a week last time I did it (back when they first announced it). Most service's email confirmation codes/links have an expiration timer that is pretty short. If Google were really malicious they would just make you wait a week, or more, until they "gather all your data" making it not possible to migrate your accounts.

What should be possible, though, is to migrate your account without access to your email. For example make the user save a special TOTP secret that will be used only for dangerous actions and not just for logging in.

Re: Ask HN: How do I get my Google account back?

#42

Post by j4tech »

davidmitchell2 wrote: post #34

> presumed that the security message was because of new IP addresses that must have been assigned. While I was initially able to log in to my accounts after replacing both the routers, o 1. Verify if your router or router software that you installed in your PC is doing something fishy. 2. As long as you have a browser window with cookies - even new IP address should NOT matter. It should allow you. I am almost always…

1. My new Asus RT AX86U had Merlin installed on it. I disconnected this router after I started getting security alerts and switched to using the router provided by my Service provider.

2. I use firefox with cookie cleaner add-on that clears cookies the second I close the tab.

3. I have a paper copy of the account details and I am 100% sure of my recovery email. I got a Yubi key recently and plan to use that and authenticators on all my accounts.

Re: Ask HN: How do I get my Google account back?

#44

Post by j4tech »

AnonC wrote: post #3

> Unfortunately I did not have a phone number associated with this account. My understanding is I would have been able to recover my account, If I had one. This is not true, in my experience. Having a phone number verified and linked to the account as a recovery number may help, but it does not always mean that you’d be able to recover the account. I recently had trouble with one of my Gmail accounts where I successf…

Thank you. I was wondering if having my own domain would be a better option...

Re: Ask HN: How do I get my Google account back?

#45

Post by adingus »

dadarecit wrote: post #28
prmoustache wrote: post #10

If the main concern was not identity theft, I would just say consider it as a blessing and forget about google. What I would do now is concentrate on right now is buy a new comouter and phone, swap the sim card to it, shutdown all other connected devices, change my main password manager password, the login on each service / account I have in my password manager and change the password, email address and credit card n…

dude what the fuck, literally lmao

Buying new hardware might be slightly over the top but it's essentially my experience with losing a Gmail account. The hijacker was extremely fast trying to get into my Amazon, PayPal, bank, credit card accounts and trying to steal my identity. The whole situation was awful.

I was stupid and used poor security which made it easier for this person (who was also probably using data from the Equifax leak for social engineering). But I wouldn't fault someone for erring on the side of paranoia.

Re: Ask HN: How do I get my Google account back?

#47

Post by dmd »

MrPatan wrote: post #37

I can't help the OP, but I can help you, gmail user reading this: This WILL happen to you. Get your own domain and set up email through it ASAP. Use some free one, use a paid one (I like fastmail), but get it done now. Then migrate all your accounts to it.

I really really want to do this but am stuck on Gmail because of their spam filtering.

Is there ANY other provider that does spam filtering that actually works? I tried Fastmail, but I receive so much spam (>600 per day vs. ~20 non-spam per day) that only Gmail's spam filtering is good enough. I've tried others (like Fastmail) and typically ~50/day get through their spam filters, vs. at Gmail where on a typical day 1-2 get through.

(Why do I get so much spam? Because I've been using the same email address, never hiding it at all even on Usenet, for 25 years.)

I would pay a lot of money - like I'd be willing to pay 4x what Fastmail charges - to get off Gmail, but apparently nobody else can do spam filtering.

Re: Ask HN: How do I get my Google account back?

#48

Post by timattrn »

zorked wrote: post #40
sigmoid10 wrote: post #24

>Unfortunately I did not have a phone number associated with this account. My understanding is I would have been able to recover my account, If I had one. It boggles my mind how people can have their entire life tied to this service and not connect a phone number, especially since google regularly warns you during login that this can happen if you don't add your number. They even ask to confirm every now and then in…

That's a mistake I will never make again. Your phone number is insecure - but even if wasn't, you are setting yourself up for losing your account forever if you ever forget to transfer all your 2FA numbers, or if the phone company decides they want to cancel your contract, or potentially if you lose your SIM card, or even if whatever SMS gateway doesn't like your number for whatever reason. Literally, you are giving…

Use a 2fa app with backups, or one that syncs to different devices (e.g. authy). It's distributed TFA. The phone number is not very secure, so I don't think it should be a part of TFA. I therefore agree that it is unwise to allow Google to use it for this. I also have a fake dob on my phone account to make Sim porting harder, but you can't trust that you have control over your phone number.

Re: Ask HN: How do I get my Google account back?

#49

Post by zelphirkalt »

davidmitchell2 wrote: post #34

> presumed that the security message was because of new IP addresses that must have been assigned. While I was initially able to log in to my accounts after replacing both the routers, o 1. Verify if your router or router software that you installed in your PC is doing something fishy. 2. As long as you have a browser window with cookies - even new IP address should NOT matter. It should allow you. I am almost always…

Installing any software for using a router on your PC already sounds fishy for me. Routers should not require any software being put on a PC.

Re: Ask HN: How do I get my Google account back?

#50

Post by mnvrth »

(Disclaimer: I'm part of the crew building https://ente.io)

I hope someone at Google takes a look at this and uses their internal tool to help OP.

That said, this oft repeated story is one of the most compelling reasons why I think Google alternatives (like the one we're building) will catch on in the mainstream population. Not privacy. But the fact that we offer human support, whilst Google doesn't.

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