How Secure Is Your Email Account?
Practically every person who knows how to read and write has a Gmail id or a free email address from some other company. Many official communications plus school and health-related documents get transferred via email. A soft copy of many certifications, subscriptions, and even passwords gets passed through emails. But, not all your email accounts are safe, and there are plenty of easy ways to hack into your email account.
What is email security?
Are you receiving too many spam emails in your account from people or services you did not request? Is your inbox always filled with junk messages from unknown company products you never want? Do you receive attachments and files from people you don’t recognize?
If any or all of these occur daily, chances are very high that your email security is compromised. Companies might know what you are doing, how to get into your email account, and even try to hack your account to get official information from you.
Why is email security important?
Hackers can get hold of various personal information about you quickly through a compromised email account. If you receive emails about your medical records, school, or loan details from a bank, those details will get stolen easily. They can misuse your information to get another loan under your name, apply for a government subsidy with your medical records or lead to identity thefts.
How to check email security?
There are plenty of free email security checking sites on the internet like “Have I Been Pwned,” which do a preliminary analysis of your email account. They tell you if your email account is compromised and list how to protect them. Another way to check email security is by approaching a professional company that provides private emails and encryption services.
Talk to them and analyze your email security to ensure no unwanted people know your email. Official email addresses created by companies, schools, or other institutions have higher security than the regular free email account.
Go to settings and options on your email account. Select the spam/junk email settings and check the filter there. Set your spam protection to low, medium, or high depending on the daily spam emails.
Most free email addresses have “content filters” through which you can block emails with attachments. Use the filter to avoid emails with unwanted content by avoiding emails containing specific words related to adult content or violence. They will be automatically marked as spam content and removed from your inbox if you receive such emails.
Use the “Senders list” facility in the emails to block emails you receive from suspicious people or block them altogether. You can make specific senders acceptable and deem others unsafe in almost all the free emails. Use the facility to delete old sender contacts and customize your email settings to receive emails only from certain people.
Transport Layer Security
Always follow certain tips to protect your email when transferring essential documents like tax details or financial papers to others. Look for the “Transport Layer Security” of TLS sign, which looks like a lock. No TLS symbol will be a red lock with a white cross, meaning there is no additional security.
Gmail and other free email providers automatically provide TLS security which masks the information from the sender through an encryption program. The sender and the receiver should be verified users to get the TLS symbol.
If you want to send an important document to a stranger and doubt their email address, check by typing it in the To column and check on the right side of the Subject column. If you see a lock symbol, it is a secure TLS account from a verified user. If you see a no TSL symbol, the email address might be fake from a person impersonating to be a real user.
Avoid opening attachments from them or sending essential documents to that particular email address at all costs. Do not send any crucial contracts or personal information to those email addresses. Enterprise emails often have a high level of encryption and will always show the TLS sign if you receive it from a legitimate company, hospital, office, or educational institution.
Tips to protect your email account
Never use birthdays or other personal information on the password or simple combinations like abcd or 1234. Don’t associate any personal data like your child’s name or spouse’s name in your email passwords at any cost.
The hackers trying to get hold of your information will try various combinations of personal details when they try to hack your email. Do not set easy passwords for your email account, and always ensure you use a password manager to create unique, random number-alphabet combinations.
Do not share your email address with unknown people online and offline for extra security. People must avoid sharing their details randomly on social media or Metaverse – the digital future, at all costs.
Give pseudo details like date of birth, city, and mother’s maiden name when you create a free email account and note them down to remember later. Use a paid, secure and encrypted email from professional companies to send important finance and medical documents.
Do not open email attachments or pictures from unknown people or email ids with a no TLS symbol. Update the security checkups, which often occur, to stay on the safer side and scan the attachments before opening them.
Delete them if you get a warning regarding suspicious or malicious content in them without a second thought. Run your antivirus to ensure there is no harm by opening the email even though you did not mess with the attachment.
The bottom line
Email accounts are a treasure cover of several personal information. Never give the hackers a chance to get hold of it by masking all your personal details and handling your email address safely. Customize your settings, use an encrypted email for important official purposes, and always set a complex password without linking any personal information. If necessary, share your email address only with selected people, and ensure you use pseudo details to confuse the hackers while creating the email address.