Email security and keeping your family safe online

More often than not, email is used to spread malware and spam, as well as phishing attacks. That is why as a user, you need to devise methods for protecting your email accounts and correspondence against unauthorized access. These methods are collectively referred to as email security.

The original intent of the email was for it to be as open and accessible as possible in order to allow people to communicate with each other. Unfortunately, this accessibility presents a drawback as certain aspects of email, being lacking in security, allows attackers utilise emails in causing internet security problems.

While you can’t always avoid spam email messages, you can avoid them becoming a vector through which hackers break into your email and access important data from you. Below are some things you can do regarding spam — to ensure email security.

Also Read: Internet security — Protect your data online

Email security: Dealing with spam messages

Spam emails are unsolicited messages sent in bulk to your email. While email service providers generally filter out spam messages via their algorithms, they still manage to somehow appear in your inbox. Consider the following tips in dealing with them:

• Mark spam emails as spam – to help your email provider to refine their spam filtering.
• Have an email address for subscriptions — different from your business email. This way, you’re unlikely to mistakenly open spam email thinking it was from a credible source.
• Never click on a link or open an attachment in a spam email. Doing so could mean you download malware onto your device. At the very least, you confirm to the spammers that yours is an active email account, incentivizing them to send more spam.
• Consider using third-party email spam filters. Because they provide an additional layer of cybersecurity. With these, emails would have to travel through multiple spam filters before getting to you.

If you do find yourself overwhelmed with spam, it could be a sign that your email address has been exposed in a data breach. When this happens, it is recommended to change your email address.

Keeping your family safe online: safety tips for children

In modern times, children spend a lot of time online, either researching their homework, regular learning, entertaining themselves with games, or keeping in touch with their pals. Internet use has come to stay, that is why it’s important for you to talk about internet safety with your children.

It is essential that you make your kids know that certain information needs to be kept private online. Passwords and personal information, for example, need to remain private.

Another thing you can do is to keep the children’s computer in a common area where it would be easy for you to monitor them at all times — while ensuring their safety online.

As noted earlier, today’s children spend lots of time online. some enjoy watching YouTube videos. For such children, activating YouTube parental controls would ensure the curation of appropriate content for their consumption. Also, you can let them use YouTube Kids, a dedicated app for children.

 

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