Is my account still secure?
If we detect suspicious activity on your account, we'll secure it immediately by preventing access to your account. If you suspect suspicious activity, but we’ve not prevented access to your account, you should run an anti-virus scan before changing your password. We then recommend following the steps in the Recommended security checks section of this article to ensure that your account is secure.
How will I know if my account has been secured?
If you use webmail or the BT Email app, you will get an error message telling you that we have prevented access to your account. If you use a mobile device or email application (such as Outlook), you’ll get repeated log in failures or password errors.
Now that my account has been secured, how do I get back in?
First you need to run an anti-virus scan on all of the devices you use to access your email. It's important to do this before changing your password.
- If you've got BT Virus Protect as part of your broadband package, you should run it
- If you've not got BT Virus Protect or broadband with BT, we recommend downloading one of these free anti-virus packages: McAfee Stinger for PC or Sophos Antivirus for Mac
- If you use a mobile device, you may want to consider taking some anti-virus software through your app store
You’ll then need to log in at www.btcom.ll-digital-sandbx1.bt.com/login email to change your password and follow the security advice offered.
If you don't already have a BT ID, you'll be asked to create one and provide some additional security information. Just follow the steps and, when prompted, change your password. Remember to choose a strong password > and then go back and update all the devices you use to access your email with the new password.
Recommended security checks
Once you’ve changed your password, you'll be advised to follow some important checks needed to maintain the security of your account. These include checking;
- From the Contacts tab, check that no new contacts have been added. Delete any you don't recognise
- Check the Contacts Trash folder for any contacts that may have been deleted and drag and drop them back to your Contacts folder. Deleted contacts will remain in the Trash folder for 30 days
If any of your contacts have disappeared, we may be able to recover them but please get in touch with us as soon as possible
It's possible that after your account has been illegally accessed, mail forwarding has been set up so that any emails sent to your inbox are automatically forwarded to another address.
- From the drop down arrow under your username in the top right hand corner of your email account, select the Settings link
- Now select Mail and then the Auto forward option
- Check the rules that exist and delete any you don’t recognise.
- Remember to save your changes
An alternative email address can help you reset your password, so it's important you check that your account hasn't been linked with an address that you don't recognise.
- From the drop down arrow under your username in the top right hand corner of your email account, select the Settings link
- Select Mail and then the Accounts option
- Delete any email addresses you don't recognise, confirm deletion and click Save
What can I do to keep my email account secure?
- Make sure you have BT Virus Protect and BT Web Protect installed and regularly run an anti-virus check on your computer
- Don’t reply to emails that ask you to provide personal details such as account numbers or passwords as these are likely to be phishing emails. We'll never ask you to provide such information
- Make sure the connection you’re using is safe - email accounts are regularly illegally accessed when people use smartphones or tablets on unsecured wi-fi public networks
- When using a public or shared computer, remember to log out completely by clicking the Sign Out link
- Avoid using the same username and password for every site that needs login details
- When creating a password, try to create one that is difficult for anyone else to guess