Guard Against Hackers and Spammers – Protect Your Email Address

Everyone should protect their email address as it is the main way they communicate with others and often their only link to the web. If you don’t protect it, you risk it being hacked, spamming, or even receiving malicious emails that could’ve generally had viruses attached to them or is just plain harassment.

You might’ve also received some spoof emails that you probably won’t respond to and don’t even know exist. If you exchange emails with someone and they send you a spoof email, you can rest assured that even if you do know that person, you will never receive another email from them.

You can also use an alternate email account if you need to sign up for something or give out some of your personal information. Many ISPs (Internet Service Providers) often offer free email accounts to their customers in which they distribute emails from different email servers. Email servers differ because some servers only accept messages from the host servers for their specific email addresses, while others accept both. If you need to sign up for something with more than one account, use an alternate email address from another computer or the same one you use for your primary email.

Be careful with email attachments. Treat any email attachment as potentially dangerous. Never open attachments from people you do not know, as they can easily scan your hard drive for personal information. Avoid opening attachments from people you know, but if you must, scan them first to make sure they aren’t viruses.

Be cautious of links posted on websites. Some websites have their own security systems in place to help protect you and your information. Many links to other websites, may have their own security. If you need to link to another site, scan the actual site first to see if there is any reason to link to it. Sometimes it may be appropriate to right-click on the link and click on the cautionary ask question option to see if they are asking for your permission to link to your site.

If you receive an email asking you for a favor, always attempt to verify if the asking email is legit. Don’t send them searching for you; instead, send them to the company itself. If you are not comfortable with electronic signatures, then tell the person you are sending the email to and do not forward it to others.

You are entitled to use these texts under Fair Credit Billing, and you should know whether you have been the victim of a fraudulent charge. Once you sign up for this service, you will receive a text message with the financial details of the transaction, and you will either reply with the info needed to dispute the charge, or you will not respond at all.

Online payments should be as secure as possible. People make purchases all day long online, so why would you allow someone to put you at more risk than necessary? Make sure you set up the account yourself and sign up for updates with the financial firm yourself. As soon as you sign up for online payments, you will receive emails with financial offers. It is important to consider all of the possibilities and not just the cash you have in your account. There are many other people whose accounts may be infiltrated by hackers, and they will try to take advantage of you.

It is important to monitor your accounts and the people you know using your account. Change all passwords and keep an eye out for anything that doesn’t look right. If you think someone is trying to hack your account, contact them immediately.