projected<\/a> to grow to 4.73 billion by 2026, email has become one of the most important platforms for communication in the digital age. For many people, an email address is their main digital identity. Kaspersky examines what fraudsters can do with a person\u2019s email address and how to keep it safe.<\/p>\n\n
\u201cMuch like your own name, an email address has an enormous amount of information attached to it. Both our professional and personal email addresses are among major assets of interest to a growing community of sophisticated cybercriminals worldwide,\u201d says Brandon Muller, Technical Expert for the MEA region at Kaspersky.<\/p>\n
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Most online login forms, portals, e-tailers, and mobile apps require an email address. So, even though hackers need passwords to both an individual\u2019s email and online accounts to access, an email address is an important starting point for them to implement different fraud scenarios<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n
Cybercriminals can target an individual with phishing emails<\/strong> containing malware attachments or malicious links to fraudulent website. They can also employ sophisticated social engineering techniques to gain personal details like a person\u2019s bank account number, ID number, physical address, phone number or passwords, amongst others.<\/p>\n\n
Spoofing an email<\/strong> address is another risk. This involves creating a fake email address that looks like an individual\u2019s address but has minor and tough-to-spot changes (like swapping a number with a letter or adding a dash). Hackers can then extort information from that person\u2019s friends and family whilst pretending to be them. This approach is often missed by spam filters on email clients.<\/p>\n\n
What\u2019s more, by using a reverse email search tool, a cybercriminal can discover who owns that specific email address. This can provide them with an important starting point to get as much freely available personal data from a person as possible. With many people\u2019s emails often containing their name and a memorable number, usually a date of birth, these two identifying factors are enough for many cybercriminals to begin gathering more lucrative personal data online which can be used to steal an identity<\/strong> or commit financial fraud.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n
Protecting an email address<\/strong><\/p>\nWith the risks that exposure of one\u2019s email address (or addresses) can pose to their personal and professional privacy and wellbeing, it\u2019s important to know how to protect an e-mail address from unauthorised access.<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n\n- Strong passwords<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
\u201cOne of the best ways for a person to keep their email address safe is to use strong passwords. It is difficult to steal personal information with just an email address and no password. This makes a strong password of around 10 to 12 characters long, containing a mix of special characters, numbers, uppercase and lowercase letters, one of the best ways to keep an email address safe,\u201d says Brandon Muller.<\/p>\n
Memorizing passwords, especially to rarely used accounts, might be a challenge, and this is where a Password Manager can become an indispensable tool that works like a private, encrypted vault to unlock which you just need your main password. Such solution is synced up across devices and it helps auto-filling logins, card payment details, and personal data for forms on any website or app.<\/p>\n
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\n- Spam filters and blocking<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
It is important to ensure the email provider\u2019s spam filter is always active. This reduces the likelihood of clicking on a malicious email or link. However, even with this in place, it is always good to remain vigilant in case such emails make it through the spam filter (which might be the case with spoofing for example) and block and report any suspicious emails to the service provider or the IT team, when it comes to business emails.<\/p>\n
\n- Two-factor authentication<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
Two-factor authentication has become a business and consumer essential. Most trusted email clients offer this service as standard. This security measure requires a person to enter additional identifying information such as a secret answer to a question or an authentication code sent to that user\u2019s mobile phone.<\/p>\n
\n- Burner email account<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
It is also a good idea for a person to use a \u2018burner\u2019 email account when signing up to a website or app that looks suspicious. This is an email account with false or very little identifying information that can be scammed and hacked without fear of negative consequences.<\/p>\n
\n- Stay vigilant<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
Educating oneself in cybersecurity best practices is not something that can be done once. People need to stay up to date with the latest training available from the business. Home users should also keep their software up to date and never click on anything suspicious.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou don’t know what you\u2019ve got \u2018till it\u2019s gone \u2013 this phrase in most cases applies to e-mails as well. Whether for business or personal use, email has become the foundation of our digital lifestyles. People should remember how important it is to keep their email accounts safe while remaining vigilant against a constantly evolving cybercrime environment,\u201d concludes Brandon Muller.<\/p>\n[\/mhc_text][\/mhc_column][\/mhc_row][\/mhc_section]\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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