Simple steps to keep your
email secure
 Email
security is just as much of a minefield as etiquette. It is
very easy to include confidential information in an email,
but more people than you imagine may be able to see it.
Part of the reason email stays ‘public’ is that
numerous copies are made. If you delete the copy on your machine,
the one on the server will still be there, plus your recipient’s,
the one on his or her server, and the copies made as the message
traverses cyberspace. Forensics experts can retrieve these.
Any ‘snooping’ may be perfectly legitimate. Your
employer may have a policy of monitoring email, which you
may have agreed to on that very busy first day. Even if there
is no formal monitoring, it would not be difficult for the
IT manager to read it.
There are also the issues of spam and scams to consider.
Probably everyone with an email address has received spam
at some point. These should be deleted or blocked, but don’t
be tempted to unsubscribe. This will just confirm that your
address is valid. If you are receiving a lot of spam, contact
your IT team, which can install filters. Fortunately the law
is getting tighter against spammers so there may be fewer
in future.
Viruses are generally spread by email. Beware of opening
an attachment or even a message from a suspicious source.
It is generally safer to save an attachment – where it
will be blocked by anti-virus software if need be – than
to open it.
Finally, there are numerous scams ready for the unwary. We
are regularly plagued with invitations to receive untold millions
into our bank accounts – this after some heart-rending
story about a plane crash killing some wealthy individual.
Unbelievably, some people fall for this one, which is why
they keep sending them.
Another scam is ‘phishing’, where you are informed
by a bank or building society that they have lost your details.
They will ask you to follow a link to their site to enter
your details again. This will take you to a copycat website,
run by criminals collecting passwords. Your bank or building
society will never solicit information in this way, so again,
be alert.
|
