Despite the popularity of real-time communications like instant messaging, as well as updates via Facebook and Twitter, most workplaces still use and rely on email. As handy as email can be, it can also be dangerous. Attachments can contain viruses, and email messages can hide phishing links that lead you to fake websites in an attempt to steal your login information.
Tech giants including Google and Facebook aim to establish a new standard called DMARC to reduce these threats in the future. For now, however, there are five things you can do to help secure your email.
1. Use a Password
2. Have a Secure Password
While using a password is essential in protecting mail stored locally, having a secure password is critical for email that can be accessed remotely. By using a password that’s complex, containing at least eight characters that mix letters and numbers and include capitalization and symbols, guessing or cracking your password becomes dramatically harder. Also, using different passwords for every account you have prevents a compromised password on one system from being used to access others.
3. Use HTTPS
4. Avoid Attachments
Be careful what you do with your email, especially when opening attachments. Since they can contain viruses and malware, only open those that you were already expecting. Viruses can lurk in messages from your colleagues (or that appear to be from them), so when in doubt, ask the sender what’s in the attachment before you open it. Don’t decline a virus scan if your email service offers one when downloading the attachment. Other methods of sharing files, such as using Box.com or Dropbox, are safer. But even with these, be sure you’re using a secure connection and that the file is coming from your colleague’s account, not from an impostor.
5. Escape Phishing Attacks
Joseph Fieber has 25 years of experience as an IT pro, with a background in computer consulting and software training. Follow him on Google+, Facebook, or Twitter, or contact him through his website, JosephFieber.com.