If your email account gets hacked, the first thing to do is to contact the email services provider and inform them about the compromise. One can use the security question that was used at the time of registration to regain control over the account via a recovery service/procedure.
Since an email compromise can lead to identity theft, better watch for any kind of other account takeovers, as people use the same username and password across all services provided by a single service provider. Like Google, where one account compromise can leak data from drive, Gmail, photos, videos and such…
And once you gain control over the compromised account, check what all devices are connected to it and whether all of them belong to your ownership. Like smart TV, smart phone etc.…
The very first thing to do is to change the password as quickly as possible and use an alpha-numeric password that is tucked between one or two special characters. Better if you craft the password that is over 12 characters and by far.
Notify those on the contact list and specify to them that the account was compromised on so and so date and if at all they received any mail communication after that date, ask them to ignore the content and subject-lines.
Enable a 2FA and use a smart phone, or a physical key or a printed code to get access to the account.
Deploy a security solution for sure on the device and enable an automated scan once a day or at least in a week.
Monitor your social media accounts and banking transactions, as email compromise can also lead to other issues.
