A Case for Multiple Email Accounts
As the web of our digital life expands, so does our risk of getting hacked. For various reasons and by various means, our email addresses are scattered around the Internet. Because of this exposure any one of us can become a target, even the kindly grandmother who rarely does much online. All it takes to get invaded is to click one poisoned weblink in an email.
Sometimes the poisoned weblink infects only the browser (browser hijacking); sometimes it infects the whole computer (a ransomware attack). Sometimes though, the hack is a more focused attempt to breach an email account.
Tempting Targets
Email accounts are rich targets. If someone can gain unauthorized access to an email account s/he can view our contacts and our email database - the content of all the emails we keep, even the "deleted" stuff!
Don't Mix Business with Pleasure
For years I have been recommending that my commercial clients do not use business email accounts for personal use. It's best to use the company email for commercial contacts only. In my experience, hacks are more likely to occur through personal emails, as they're linked to social networking and a whole variety of people who may not be as security-conscious as corporate email systems tend to be.
Three's Company
For personal email accounts, I'd recommend three email accounts: one for family and close friends; another for finance and banking; and a third for everything else, such as subscriptions, online shopping, social networks, etc.
For the first email, you can choose something personal, like part of your name for the address; for the second, be a little vaguer; for the third, be very vague - don't use any part of your name or personal info.
Damage Control
Now just because you have three email accounts this doesn't mean you're bulletproof online. But if someone hacks the third account, they won't gain access to the content of the first or second. The last thing you want is someone gaining access to ALL your email contacts when they hack your account. That's a nightmare for everyone.
A Vote for Gmail
As much as I like to support the "little guy and gal" in business, I think Gmail is the best bet for personal email. It has good spam filtering, good 2-step authentication, and other security features. Of course, when using Gmail, you must put up with ads and whatever online tracking Google is currently implementing. But it is free, so we can't expect to get something for nothing.
Best Practices to Keep Safe
Whichever email service you use, and whatever strategy you use to keep some segregation between email accounts, it's best to use unique passwords for each email account, set strict spam controls, and be very careful when clicking any links in email messages. When in doubt, delete. And never transmit personally identifying information (PII) like social security numbers, etc. by email.
Email is a wonderful tool for personal and business communications. Just keep your guard up while using it, because it's a portal to so much about you, and you have rights as to what is disclosed.
Thanks for reading!
-Sam
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