Email Security - Protecting Yourself Against Threats by Paul Wilcox
These days email is a necessary part of communication. However, this also means
that email is one of the most popular ways for a virus to infect your computer.
You need to protect yourself from the threat of fraud and infection.
Viruses
Email attachments often contain viruses so you need to be careful whenever you
open any type of attachment even if you know the sender. There are some viruses
that can infiltrate your address book and then send email that is infected to
everyone on your list. This means that you can get a virus from a colleague or
a friend. The best thing to do is to communicate with the sender so that you
know you are expecting an attachment.
Software for virus protection is your best bet against viruses. This software
will scan all your email attachments when they are received on your computer.
All computers that have Internet access will need to have antivirus software so
that all systems are protected as one big whole. There are some viruses that
will start with one computer system and then spread to the rest of the network,
eventually encompassing all the hardware that is needed to access the Internet.
Phishing
Email can lead to fraud, which is yet another type of security risk. Phishing,
is one type of fraud that will try to trick you into giving out personal
passwords or banking information. This type of email will use the logo from a
well known banking institution or online business after which they will ask you
to update your banking information or your password.
Phishing provides a link that looks as though it is legitimate but that in fact
will lead you to a false website. If you provide them with personal information
you become a victim of theft or fraud on your credit card. This is also known
as "identity theft".
Email content and subject lines can be your clue to phishing. Instead of using
your name the subject line might say something like "To our valued customer".
It isn't hard to find some variant for personal names so be on the alert.
Less of clue to phishing is when a link is included that has nothing to do with
the text in the email. You can verify this by highlighting the link and paying
attention to the status bar. For example, if the email text is something about
Microsoft, and the URL is www.nowhereland.com, you have a good clue that the
message you've received isn't really from Microsoft.
There is software that can detect whether phishing is occurring. Even though
this software isn't fully mature yet it can at least identify if an email is
fraud. Whenever you are asked for your credit card number or a password you
should be suspicious. Always keep in mind that no legitimate banking
institution will ask you to give personal information or to verify any
passwords in the content of an email.
E-mail Backups
Your email, just like other data on your computer, should always be backed up.
Most email programs will be easy to back up. All you need to do is export your
email messages to a selected folder and then do a backup on this folder. You
can use a backup program and put your email onto a writeable CD, DVD, removable
disk, or any other type of media.
You also have the option of buying backup software that is specialized for
backing up email. This software is moderately priced and eliminates the need to
export your email to a folder.
You can automate most backup software so that backups happen at a time that is
convenient without you having to lend a hand. You'll have to find time in your
busy schedule to configure this type of software. However, you'll be no more
busy doing the configuring as you would be if you need to replace an email that
you needed.
About the Author
Paul Wilcox writes about PC security and
other related topics for the Security Manor website. Get more helpful
information about protecting yourself against online threats at
http://www.securitymanor.com
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