An email account is a very private thing - within it may be documents containing people's bank details, address, photographs, information connected to their job and much more very personal information. As a result, you can only access an email account with the right combination of an email address and a password. If someone willingly shares their password with you, it is their choice to do so and they can be held responsible if anything goes wrong. However, if you take it upon yourself to try to get into someone's email account without their permission, it is known as "hacking" and you could be sent to prison or fined when you get caught.
However, it may be that you are trying to recover your own password. People are forgetful, and a password is just one of those things that can easily be overlooked. As a result, email providers such as Google's Gmail have strategies to maintain the security of your email account, while providing you with the help you need to recover any lost passwords.
If you forget your Gmail password, the first thing that Gmail will do is ask you to enter your email address. People tend not to forget their email addresses as they are used quite frequently. Gmail may then ask you to provide and answer to a "security question". This is a question which you have to fill out when signing up for an account, and you can choose the question from a list. The list usually contains questions such as "what was the name of your first school?" or "what was your mother's maiden name?", and you have to provide an answer for one of these questions in case you should ever forget your password. After this, you may be asked to look at a "capatcha". This is an image which contains a series of blurred numbers and letters, and you will be asked to type the digits you see in the image into a box. This is a security measure which prevents computer software from hacking into your account, as software cannot identify the numbers and letters in a capatcha.
If you have done all of this correctly, you will be sent an email which contains your password. Your email account may be temporarily disabled in order to protect your security.
However, it may be that you are trying to recover your own password. People are forgetful, and a password is just one of those things that can easily be overlooked. As a result, email providers such as Google's Gmail have strategies to maintain the security of your email account, while providing you with the help you need to recover any lost passwords.
If you forget your Gmail password, the first thing that Gmail will do is ask you to enter your email address. People tend not to forget their email addresses as they are used quite frequently. Gmail may then ask you to provide and answer to a "security question". This is a question which you have to fill out when signing up for an account, and you can choose the question from a list. The list usually contains questions such as "what was the name of your first school?" or "what was your mother's maiden name?", and you have to provide an answer for one of these questions in case you should ever forget your password. After this, you may be asked to look at a "capatcha". This is an image which contains a series of blurred numbers and letters, and you will be asked to type the digits you see in the image into a box. This is a security measure which prevents computer software from hacking into your account, as software cannot identify the numbers and letters in a capatcha.
If you have done all of this correctly, you will be sent an email which contains your password. Your email account may be temporarily disabled in order to protect your security.
