Crossword Genius

Appropriate time to realise when account's been hacked (6)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

thieve

I'm a little stuck... Click here to teach me more about this clue!

'appropriate' is the definition.
(I've seen this before)

'time to realise when account's been hacked' is the wordplay.
I cannot quite understand how this works, but
'time' could be 't' and 't' is located in the answer.
'when' could be 'e' (I've seen this in other clues) and 'e' is present in the answer.
The remaining letters 'hive' is a valid word which might be clued in a way I don't understand.
This explanation may well be incorrect...

Can you help me to learn more?

(Other definitions for thieve that I've seen before include "Steal things" , "Take illegally" , "Nick things" , "appropriate" , "Misappropriate" .)

I've seen this clue in The Telegraph.
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