The CW Corner – Email Security

Compromised email can be an important component of identity theft. People take much of today’s electronic communications for granted.

Think about what’s connected to your email accounts – activities like shopping and even online banking to name a couple. Hackers getting into your email can give them an open doorway into many aspects of your financial and personal life. The losses incurred through compromised email can be enormous.

Good security practices are great deterrents. Start by using strong passwords to mitigate such losses.

Wireless connections can be “sniffed”, meaning hackers can wait nearby and record the information being sent and received over the connection.

Always access your email using encryption. Encryption makes it close to impossible to decode the wireless traffic. With email clients like Outlook, Thunderbird, Apple Mail or even a mail apps on phones, make sure encryption is turned on. With webmail through web browsers be careful to access it using https:// to ensure an encrypted email server connection.

Free wireless hotspots are a haven for hackers. You are pretty safe as long as you are using encrypted connections.

If you don’t understand how to set up and use encryption, call your web hosting, email or device provider for help. Don’t risk potential losses.