We always hear about stories of email address accounts getting hacked and it's disturbing. We are not sure if we’re going to be the next target of hacking because of our activities on the internet. People who don't have much information on cybersecurity, online frauds, and identity theft, etc. are the most vulnerable who'll get easily attacked and prone to be a victim of these malicious email activities.
Many innocent victims have fallen prey from predators hiding from the shadows of malicious links attached on the emails.
Cybercriminals use emails and pretend to be someone you know or from an institution you’re affiliated with to steal bank details, identities, and other personal information that can be used for illegal purposes.
So how can you prevent these cybercrimes from happening and what actions can you take to make your email accounts safe and secure?
Strong and unique password
Repeatedly, we are told to use a strong and unique password to make our online accounts safe and secure. Use a combination of special characters, numbers, and lower and uppercases to make it difficult for anybody to access or hack your account.
Never use your birthday, mother's maiden name, or even the name of your dog
Because most of your personal information are already available online, cybercriminals can easily target you and might use your birthdate or your mother's maiden name to identify your password. And because you're always online, chances are you have shown your pet dog on social media and this might set up as a clue for those who want to hack your email account.
Use a very long password
Don't get comfy on a four to six letter/numeric password. As much as possible, try to have a higher than eight digits or letters for your password. Just make sure you can remember it.
Two-factor authentication
Two-factor authentication or 2fa is a method of establishing access to an online account or computer system that requires the user to provide two different types of information. With two-factor authentication, you'll need to both provide a password and prove your identity some other way to gain access.
Subscribe to email security
Email security is a term for describing different procedures and techniques for protecting email accounts, content, and communication against unauthorized access, loss, or compromise. This security solution can help online threats such as phishing, ransomware, virus, etc.
An email security can filter spams, has anti-virus protection, image and content control, and date encryption. Subscription rates depend on the scale of the infrastructure if it’s for home or business use.
Back up
Add another email address or mobile number for log-in verification just in case you're locked from getting access to your email account.
Don't share your password
Unless they're your family, never ever share your password to anybody.