Email Security

Got problem with spams? One of the major problems of Internet users today is the flooding of spams on their email accounts. The huge bulk of spams that enter various email accounts can lead to more serious problems than simple email overloading. Spams may actually contain malicious content that could damage the system or worse, spyware that could make you a potential victim of hackers. Today, netbots and spambots are getting more and more sophisticated that it is not easy to evade them. One of the ways through which you can prevent spammers from accessing your email address is by keeping it private. But what if you need to buy a product online or you want to join a forum, and the sites require you to post your email address online? Is there anything that you can do to prevent spammers from harvesting your email address?

Effective spam prevention tool

There is an answer to this dilemma — the email address protector. Through the email address protector, you can just post your email address on a webpage or join an online forum without worrying about exposing it. An email address security protector can be downloaded online. There are actually various sites that offer the email address protector for free. However, there are some sites that provide this tool for a specific amount. The software that could cloak your email address from spambots is easy to download. You just have to follow the easy-to-understand instruction written on the site that advertises email address protection software programs.

During his campaign for presidency, President Barack Obama showed signs of addiction. Yes, he even admitted it himself and there were actually various witnesses to prove that his addiction is real. According to some reports, Obama was often seen during his campaign thumbing his addiction, his BlackBerry mobile email phone.

Is Obama’s addiction trivial

The issue on whether President Obama should keep or give up his mobile email phone addiction is not trivial as some may think. In the past and until today, emails are actually used to commit serious crimes. For instance, an email can be hacked by cyber crime organizations to obtain important information that would enable them to commit more serious crimes. In the case of President Obama, the danger is doubled because his BlackBerry phone has a built-in GPS technology that can be used to trace his location within a short distance.

Obama to bring the object of his addiction to the White House

Because email is viewed with a skeptical eye in the White House, former presidents gave up using emails during their administrations. Former President Clinton, for instance, sent only two emails during his term and Bush gave up emails as well. Just recently, however, it was announced that Obama would be allowed to bring his addiction to the White House. This announcement made him the first US president to use email regularly. But to ensure the safety of information and of the president himself, a special security software would be installed on his BlackBerry mobile email phone.

There are countless cases of Internet scams committed everyday. Lots of people suffer from financial losses just because of some minor carelessness in conducting transactions online. As netbots become more sophisticated, it is now easier for cyber crime organizations to access information from government, financial, and academic institutions. However, institutions are not the only ones who can be the target of cyber crime. You can also be a potential victim. However, there are various ways by which you can avoid becoming the next victim of email spoofs and other finance-related cyber crimes.

Why use plain text

One of the ways to combat unauthorized access of your messages and files is by reading your emails in plain text. Many people are seduced by the HTML-rendered file because of its attractive features; there are colored fonts and images in HTML-rendered emails. However, it is not secure to read emails in HTML format because it can hide images and links that could aid hackers to obtain the information from the emails. This can also help spammers find their new victims. However, if you use plain text, you don’t have to worry about hidden links and images because the plain text format will show everything. The plain text format does not support active content; some types of active content can actually harm your system by allowing harmful files to be downloaded automatically.

Plain text email messages are easy to compose, send, and receive. No plain text email has ever been found to contain viruses or cause any problems when being accessed.

With all the spams that reached your email inbox, it’s really important that you protect the privacy of your email address. Unwanted emails can be annoying and, to some extent, even dangerous. So the best thing that you should do is to give your email address only to the people you trust. But this should not discourage you from using your email address to make transactions online. If you intend to purchase something or subscribe to an online newsletter, you need to hand over your email address. Below are some tips on how to ensure that your mailbox would not be flooded with spams once you hand over your email address to commercial sites.

Opt for a reputable site

Many reputable sites would not jeopardize their name for spamming. So if you make transactions in reputable online companies, you can be fairly sure that they would not flood your account with spam. Sites of well-known institutions usually provide a statement about your email privacy at the sign-up page. Just make sure that you read the statement carefully.

Inquire about the privacy policy

Usually, the online company that requires you to hand over your email address has a privacy policy. Read the policy and take note about what they would do to the collected email addresses. Will it be used for future product advertisement? Or will it be passed around to other online companies? When there is no privacy policy provided, you can inquire by sending email or calling the customer support team of that online company.

You may not be aware of it, but you can already be a victim of cybercrime. If you transact business online, there is a big chance that your software has already been hacked. Today, with various sophisticated malware, it is not very difficult for hackers to obtain personal information from you. One of the prevalent malware is Trojan. Last year, it was reported that a cyber crime organization obtained the passwords, usernames, and account numbers of thousands of bank accounts by using the Trojan malware.

How Trojan aids cyber criminals

Some people believe that Trojan is not as harmful as a virus or a worm. But contrary to this belief, Trojan can be just as dangerous, if not more. The serious danger lies when it is used by cyber criminals to hack information. To obtain information, the Trojan waits for the user to enter a specific URL and then it replaces the URL with a fake one. It then keeps the information that the user has encoded. What’s more, a Trojan cannot easily be detected by your typical anti-virus software. So you may not know it if your computer has already been infected with one.

Tips to avoid being hacked

Though Trojan can evade anti-virus software, it is still best that you install one and keep it constantly updated. You should also take extra care when dealing with spam email that asks for your private information. It’s vital that you avoid sending our your passwords and your bank account and credit card numbers through email. And if you want to visit the website of a financial or academic institution, type the URL directly instead of clicking some links.