10 Email Security Tips That You Should Not Miss in 2020

In the previous blog post, we learned to check whether our email ID has been compromised or not. There I ended up with a note that I will be teaching you some important email security tips.

[Must Read: Have I Been Pwned? Check Your Email Security Now]

Now here I am!

Even if you don’t realize but email ID is the most important online identity that you have.

You might not necessarily open your email as the first application of the day on your smartphone but your email ID links all your other accounts.

Right from your Facebook to online investments, everything is present on your email ID!

All of your accounts can be recovered back if you forget their passwords but you can never recover your email ID once you have lost it.

That is the significance of your email security. I mentioned many cybersecurity tips in my ebook but the knowledge has to be upgraded.

Email Security Tips That You Should Not Miss

I am going to touch the topic of email security in a much deeper way.

Here are the 10 email security measures for you.

1. Use Strong Passwords

Try all the combinations in your passwords with small letters, capital letters, numbers, special characters, and every combination that you can use.

Here’s an example:

Don’t use: Pritesh

Use: PR!t€$#

Also, keep longer passwords and don’t use anyone’s name 😛

I know that you are continuously hammered with the same notifications that you need to keep stronger passwords everywhere.

However, I have some different way to tell this.

Here is a chart by Inetsolution that will explain the time taken by software for robots to decode your password.

Let me explain.

Don’t think that some humans will be decoding your password and it will take years for them to find your 5 characters long password.

Hackers run a script for robots to find and match your password.

The robots try to make and match thousands of passwords at a single time against your email ID. This is how an easier password gets exposed easily.

Hence, it becomes difficult to crack a difficult password.

[Also Read: What is Carding? Is Carding Illegal in India?]

2. Enable 2-Factor Authentication

By two factor authentication, I don’t mean to tell you to rely on an SMS.

Of course, it’s a good option but you know very well how apps take all the permissions on your phone including SMS inbox.

That is the main concern.

[This concept is better explained here: How Truecaller works? How can it find unknown numbers?]

Hence I would recommend you using third-party applications like Google Authenticator or Microsoft Authenticator.

In that way, you will always need your smartphone as well as a password to log into your email ID.

Moreover, you won’t get stuck if you don’t receive the OTP in case of weak network

3. Protect Yourself from Phishing Emails

“Your Facebook has been hacked. To change your password, click here”
“You got an exclusive offer of 95% on Louis Vuitton. Click here to confirm your order”

If you ever get such emails with glittering deals or some clickbait titles then you should avoid taking action on that email.

[Also Check out: Free basket of Cadbury Chocolates – What is the Truth?]

Never click on such links in the email because that will install some malicious software on your computer or they will simply run away with your data.

Always check the sender’s email ID and proceed only if you are completely sure about the intentions of the sender.

4. Never Open Any File From Unexpected Emails

Many hackers send emails in masses with malicious files.

Never download any file on your email if you are not sure about the sender. Simply ignore it.

Even an innocent-looking video can be a hidden malware that can disrupt your computer.

Stay safe.

5. Scan Emails For Viruses and Malware

Most of the bigger email service providers like Gmail or Outlook automatically scan your emails and let you know about the fishy stuff it finds.

However, if you are using a third-party email service provider then you need to check if your provider is giving you email security.

Some companies charge for that why most of them are free.

This step is mostly applicable to the businesses and companies that have their own service providers and are not reliable on any bigger services like Gmail or Outlook.

You can also use some third party software or platforms that scan the attachments for you and send you the reports.

6. Never Use Company or College Email ID for Personal Purposes

I have seen people using official email accounts for the random stuff they do on the internet.

They need to remember that the company account that they are using is managed by their company and it can be monitored at any time.

Moreover, it’s not really a good practice to allow random services to join with your official email ID.

All your office emails are proprietary in nature and you should not allow any third party to access your emails.

7. Make a Disposable Account

As mentioned in the previous blog I have a disposable account that I used to get all the subscriptions and to sign into multiple websites.

I strongly suggest you use this technique. Because it is free and safe.

Do you really want to clutter your main email ID inbox with all the spam that you receive from promotional companies and marketing companies?

So, prioritize your emails.

You can also use some temporary email providers like temp-mail.org so that you can skip the process of giving your personal email id to random websites on the web.

I mentioned this tool on my Instagram page.

8. Avoid Unsubscribe Button

You might be getting some promotional emails that you don’t remember signing up for but they are just flowing into your email inbox.

Don’t click on the unsubscribe button given at the footer of that email.

That’s a scam.

Some hackers prompt you to click on that unsubscribe button and they will take you to a fishy landing page.

Also, that indicates that you are an active email reader and that gives a signal to the spammers. They will end up sending you even more emails.

Simply flag the email as Spam and relax while your account will take care of that sender email ID.

Of course, don’t flag some genuine and reputed email services. If you remember dealing or signing for them then just use the unsubscribe button there.

9. Activate the Spam Filter

Almost all your email providers like Gmail or Outlook will give you a strong spam filter.

However, some of the services don’t give a proper spam filter.

This option enables you to focus more on the important emails rather than getting flooded with promotional spam emails.

You can also change your preferences from the settings for blocking the emails that contain specific words or email addresses.

10. Don’t Forget to Log Out From Public Computers

I saw this happening all the time while I was studying at my college.

Some students who used the computers for a while and simply forgot to log out of their accounts from the PC.

This is the worst case of getting compromised because you won’t even be able to track the attacker and all your information will be easily leaked without any technical process.

Kindly log out from the public computer.

There is also a simple technique to use incognito mode while surfing a non-personal device.

Even if you forget logging out, it will automatically delete all your data from that system.

Important Email Security Tips At A Glance

1. Use Strong Passwords
2. Enable 2-factor authentication
3. Protect yourself from Phishing emails
4. Never open any file from unexpected emails
5. Scan emails for viruses and malware
6. Never use company or college email ID for personal purposes
7. Make a disposable account
8. Avoid unsubscribing button
9. Activate the spam filter
10. Don’t forget to log out from public computers

So, these are some email security tips from me.

Share this post with a maximum number of your contacts so that people will get some awareness regarding an important aspect of the digital world.

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