There are many email security challenges caused by legacy email account providers, but we are here to help you determine the best solution to improve your online and email security.
Your emails contain a lot of information about you that criminals can use to scam you or people you know. So, it’s crucial you use a strong password for your email account that you don’t use for other accounts.
Your email inbox can also act as a ‘gateway’ to your other accounts. Once they can access it, a criminal could use the ‘forgot password’ option to request emails enabling them to get into other accounts, such as your social media.
To protect your email and linked accounts follow our top 3 tips:
Using a combination of 3 random words creates passwords that are long enough and strong enough. Avoid words that can be guessed, like your pet’s name or birth month. Adding numbers and symbols is a good way to make your password even harder to guess.
2-step verification (sometimes called 2SV) helps to keep criminals out of important accounts, such as your email and social media, even if they have your passwords. It works by sending a code or PIN to a device only you have access to, such as your phone. Typing in this code or PIN helps to prove your identity. You’ll usually only be asked to do this when you sign in using a new device or change settings such as your password. So, if you’re asked if you’d like to set up 2-step verification, always do so – you’ll be making life twice as hard for criminals.
It’s important to check your email security settings, are you able to create a strong and separate password? Are you able to enable 2-step-verification? If not, then the security features on your email account could be out of date and you may want to consider creating a new email account. Then apply step 1 and 2 to your account to be more cyber secure. Then all that is left to do is update the personal information on any linked account by adding your new email and deleting your old one.