Tips for Email Safety

Understanding Email Security

Email security refers to the measures taken to protect email accounts and communications from unauthorized access, misuse, and threats. It involves using various tools and practices to ensure that your email remains private and secure.

Why Email Security is Important

Email is a primary mode of communication for both personal and professional use. It often contains sensitive information, such as personal details, financial data, and confidential business communications. Protecting your email helps safeguard this information from being accessed or exploited by malicious actors.

Why Email is a Big Target

Cybercriminals frequently target email accounts because they can be a gateway to valuable information. By compromising an email account, attackers can:

• Gain access to personal and financial information.
• Use the compromised account to send phishing emails.
• Steal sensitive business data and intellectual property.

Given the importance of email in our daily lives, it's crucial to implement strong security measures to protect your email account from potential threats. Spotting phishing emails can be tricky, but some telltale signs can help you identify them. Here are some tips:

1. Check the Sender's Email Address:
   • Phishing emails often come from addresses that look similar to legitimate ones but have slight variations. For example, instead of support@yourbank.com, it might be support@yourb4nk.com.
2. Look for Generic Greetings:
   • Phishing emails often use generic greetings like "Dear Customer" instead of your actual name. Legitimate companies usually address you by your name.
3. Beware of Urgent or Threatening Language:
   • Phishing emails often create a sense of urgency or fear, such as threatening to close your account if you don't respond immediately.
4. Check for Spelling and Grammar Mistakes:
   • Many phishing emails contain spelling and grammar errors. Legitimate companies usually have professional communication standards.
5. Hover Over Links:
   • Before clicking on any link, hover your mouse over it to see the actual URL. If it looks suspicious or doesn't match the company's website, don't click on it.
6. Look for Unusual Attachments:
   • Be cautious of unexpected attachments, especially if they have strange file extensions like .exe, .scr, or .zip.
7. Verify the Content:
   • If an email asks for personal information or login credentials, be skeptical. Legitimate companies rarely ask for sensitive information via email.
8. Analyze the timing of the email.
   • If an email asks for personal information or login credentials, be skeptical. Legitimate companies rarely ask for sensitive information via email.

When you spot a phishing email, here’s what you should do:

1. Do Not Click on Any Links or Download Attachments:
   • Avoid interacting with the email in any way.
2. Report the Email:
   • Report the email as Junk.
   • This helps train the anti-spam system so it can catch similar emails in the future.
3. Change Your Passwords:
   • If you suspect that you might have interacted with a phishing email, change your passwords immediately.

Password Security

• When creating new passwords, one effective method is to make your passwords long and to use passphrases.
• Avoid common words and phrases that are easily guessable, like “password,” “123456,” or your name.
• Avoid reusing passwords across multiple accounts. It only takes one account to get compromised to have access to all your other accounts!
• A passphrase is a sequence of random words or sentences that is easy to remember but hard to guess.
• For example, instead of using a short and simple password like "password123," you can use a passphrase like "BlueSky!Mountain$River123." This passphrase is both long and complex, making it much more secure.

Enable Multifactor Authentication (MFA)

• Adding an extra layer of security can help protect your accounts even if your password is compromised.
• Never approve an MFA prompt you didn’t request.
• If you receive an MFA Prompt you didn’t request, immediately change your password for the associated account.