Find out if your TeamViewer account has been hacked and what to do

Users of TeamViewer have been blowing up Reddit, Twitter and other social media sites with claims that their accounts have been hacked. These claims range from hackers taking control of their PCs, to making purchases using user information to malicious malware installation.

In an interview over the weekend, TeamViewer spokesman Axel Schmidt admitted that there had been a significant amount of account breaches, but blamed poor password choices and users with accounts which use the same credentials across different platforms.

Despite this statement, many users with two-factor authentication enabled have reported being hacked.

Has your TeamViewer account been hacked?

There's no need to worry and wait to see if your TeamViewer account has been hacked. You can do a little investigation to find evidence which may indicate a breach.

Take a look at the files that log the program's connections to your computer. How you access the files is different, depending on what operating system you use, according to TeamViewer.

How access TeamViewer QuickSupport log files using Windows:

1. Click on the tool kit symbol in the upper right corner
2. Click on the button Open Logfiles...
3. Open the files named ConnectionFirst

How to access TeamViewer full version + Host module log files using Windows:

1. Click on Extras in the menu
2. Click on Open log files...
3. Open the files named Connections_incoming.txt and Connections.txt

How to open log files using Linux:

1. Run the command teamviewer -ziplog (with root) on a command line
2. Unzip the ZIP file
3. Open the files named Connections_incoming.txt and Connections.txt

How to open log files using Mac:

1. Start the Console app (/Applications/Utilities/Console)
2. Look in Files -> ~/Library/Logs/TeamViewer
3. Open Connections.txt

Once you have the files open, look for any logins using an IP address other than your own. If there are logins from a strange location, your account has probably been hacked.

Don't know what your IP address is? Type in "how to find your IP address" into Google search. Google will give you your IP address as the top search result.

What to do if your TeamViewer account has been hacked

If you suspect that your TeamViewer account has been hacked, there are several steps you should take to secure your computer and your account.

1. Alert the TeamViewer support team. Their support numbers are 1-800-951-4573 (English) and 1-800-865-9123 (Spanish); you can also submit a ticket.

2. Run a malware scan to be sure that malicious software hasn't been downloaded on your computer. After a scan has been completed and you're sure that there isn't any malware on your computer, change your TeamViewer password by going to Extras > Options > Security > Personal password.

Here are some guidelines for creating unique, hard-to-crack passwords:

• Don't use passwords that use personal information (your birthdate, your child's name, where you were born).
• Use a combination of lowercase and capital letters.
• Don't use words that can be found in the dictionary.
• Use letters, numbers and special characters in your password.
• Use different passwords on different accounts across the Internet.

3. Enable 2-step authentication, if you haven't already. Log in to your TeamViewer account at login.teamviewer.com. Click Edit profile > General> Activate link > Two factor authentication. Then, follow the onscreen instructions and click Save.

4. Change your user options to lock down your account. Go to Advanced Options > Connections to this computer. Change the setting from full access to confirm all. Now for TeamViewer to allow any inbound access, someone will need to be physically at the computer.

To make your connection even more secure, you can restrict only certain TeamViewer IDs or deny connections from outside your network. To so this, follow the instructions in the TeamViewer manual for remote control.

5. Change your other passwords. Did you share your old TeamViewer password with other accounts across the Web? Change their passwords right away and make sure your new passwords are all different. Once hackers have one password they will try to use it to hack into other accounts.