Nowadays, there are so many ways to communicate with others, whether at home or at work. Yet despite the prevalence of methods of communication like text messaging, instant messaging, and social media sites, email still remains one of the most common ways to communicate and to get messages around. When you send an email, you may think that the contents are private; the people that will read it are you and the recipient. But is this really the case?
Are your emails really private?
Unfortunately, it most likely is not just only you and the recipient will read the email. Despite what we may have thought, email is actually one of the least secure forms to communicate with. Of course, we tend to hear about high-profile cases of email leaks, but even the everyday emails that we send to friends or colleagues can be impacted. Access to email can be done much more easily that you might first think.
In fact, in February of this year, an investigation discovered how an app called Edison (an email productivity app) had been checking the personal inboxes of its users for receipts from purchases and looking for any shipment tracking email updates. With this kind of data, Edison could look into some behavior patterns for its users, and then sell on that information, such as what was bought, and the average spend the person would spend on a purchase. This is knowledge that an eCommerce entity or a travel site can find very valuable as they plan their strategic digital marketing.
When the Edison scandal was investigated, the data that was bought came from personal email inboxes. This was said to be anonymized, allegedly. However, this is a very high standard that can be hard for companies to really put into place. It wasn’t clear to users of the Edison app that this ‘taking of data’ was even something that was happening. Privacy policies for the company don’t talk about third parties, so it had been misleading information on privacy, deliberately. Privacy online has improved dramatically over the last few years. However, the model of monetizing the information of users is something that does remain incompatible with any kind of privacy.
This type of hacking is similar to some other leaks or scandals that have come from free email apps. Nothing is ever really free; and indeed, there is usually another way the company offering the free service is making their money. In another example, a free app called Superhuman was found to be accessing email inboxes to gain personal information.
Do I Need to be Concerned About Having My Emails Hacked?
You might think that privacy of emails comes from staying away from email management apps, but the truth is that it can happen to anyone, so it is important to do all that you can to stay safe online. Your emails can be hacked from anyone, regardless of apps of third-party permissions if you don’t take some steps to keep your details as safe as you can.
Emails are generally fairly easy to hack if someone knows what they are doing. And emails are something that are very valuable to hackers. If they are able to access your email account, whether at work or at home, then they could potentially reset your password and the password recovery options. This is not good; With your email access a hacker can impact other accounts of yours that use that email for a recovery option.
Hackers can normally get access to email accounts using a few methods. One is where they will use your password for one account that was found through a hack, and then use that password for other accounts of yours. If your passwords are the same across a number of accounts, then this can be simple process for them to gain access to them all. Hackers can also try to send out viruses or other malware, through phishing emails, which can be activated by you clicking on a link or downloading something from an email from someone who looks familiar. By this method, they can find your password and access your account with ease. A less common way, but still something to be wary of is when hackers use brute force or social engineering to hack your account and then access your information.
If you want to make sure that your information is safe and protected, then here are some tips:
-
When writing an email, you should assume that the whole world will be ablle to read what has been written. So, leave out any very important, personal information and instead share it over the phone or face-to-face, if possible.
-
Make sure that you don’t include any sensitive or confidential information in an email.
-
When sending an email, double-check the email address of who you are sending it to. A spelling error could send it to someone else, someone who can do the wrong thing with the information they receive.
-
Purchase the latest anti-malware and virus programs and set these up in your devices.
-
Change your password – often!
-
If you send emails for work, check the company’s office policies on email security.
-
Never download anything or click any links from an email address you do not know. If you aren’t sure, do not download.
-
Call any companies or banks who send you an email to ask for personal information, to verify that they need this information. You do not want to be a victim of email fraud!
-
Check their privacy policies of apps and what happens with your information. You need to be informed to make a full decision.
Although your emails may not always be 100% private, taking steps to be extra vigilant with your emails and information will help you to keep emails as private as possible.