Date:   Wednesday, November 24, 2021
Author:   ICS Admin

Whenever I deal with an e-mail issue, I am amazed to see how vulnerable people will leave themselves.

The following list addresses some of those concerns.

• Problem: Weak passwords. A hacker can use a tool to guess your password in a relatively short amount of time. I am talking about seconds.

Solution: Use passwords 15 characters or longer, with unique, upper, and lower characters. And, don't forget to toss in a number or two.

• Problem: Hundreds to thousands of e-mail need to be deleted or moved. Many people tend to use online accounts nowadays. With such a treasure trove of messages, it would not take a hacker that long to learn who you are and plan their attack when they access your account.

Solution:

• Delete messages that are not important.
• Use a desktop client to download your e-mail too.
• If you are using IMAP (mail on the server), make sure you create local folders within a desktop client and move the mail.

• Problem: Do not create folders on your e-mail server. Many platforms today use IMAP. The protocol allows you to create folders on the server and synchronize them with a desktop client if you choose to do so.

Solution: Use a desktop client and create local folders. Move any mail you wish to keep to your local folders that will not replicate (synchronize) with the server. You want to leave your e-mail account on the server as empty as possible.


Why is it so important to remove e-mail from the server? There have been countless security breaches with many of the e-mail providers. Once a hacker has the information they are seeking, they will tailor their attack against you. Another reason has to do with data mining. Let's not give these corporations any more information about us.

• Problem: When to use To or Cc or Bcc. Never use more than one address in the To: or Cc: fields. No one wants to be part of an endless message chain.

Solution: Use the Bcc: field as much as possible. It hides the participants' e-mail addresses, ending the unwanted message chain in the office or with friends and family. It also thwarts spammers from getting lists of active e-mail accounts.