Spam, Safety, And Your Best Defense
Identity theft is serious business – and BIG business for cyber-criminals.
So, internet security is something that you probably have in the back of your mind each time you turn on your computer.
How do you protect yourself? And what does “protecting yourself online” really mean?
Protecting yourself online means keeping your private information PRIVATE, and keeping your computer shielded against malware, viruses, and Trojans.
Easier said than done? Not really.
On the one hand, you will have to remember to be careful about the information you give to people (both on and offline) AND you’ll have to make sure that your computer and internet connection are secure at all times.
Today I will show you just one of the ways to help keep your private information PRIVATE, and one of the easiest ways is to properly manage your email addresses.
It’s ADDRESSES, not ADDRESS.
Notice I said addresses.
If you spend any amount of time online – you should definitely have more than one email address.
I have several, and I suggest that you grab at least a couple for yourself.
Simply go to Yahoo or Google and sign up for a free email account (or two).
It is not mandatory to use your real name in any of your email addresses, and you do not have to use any other identifying factors. Just sign up for your accounts with “alias” names and call it a day!
Okay. So now you have at least 2 email addresses. This means you have a primary and secondary. (Lucky for you, this is easy math day).
Your primary email address should be used as your “personal” email address. So you really should only give this email address to your family and friends – the people you know and trust.
Caution: If you have a family member or friend who likes to forward jokes or who may not be very computer savvy – you may want to think twice about giving your primary email address to him or her.
Why?
When someone forwards you an email from someone else – often times, they have sent that email to a lot of other people too – all at the same time. So now your email address has probably been forwarded to someone else (just as other people who do not know you have had their email address forwarded to you).
Essentially, by not being careful about who you give your primary email address to – you could be “giving away” your primary email address to strangers – which defeats the purpose of having a personal email address in the first place!
So now that you have your primary email address that you give to practically no one – guess who gets your secondary (or third or fourth) email address: everyone else.
When you want to register for a software download or sign up for a Blog subscription or email newsletter, or you need to tell your cable company or doctor how to contact you by email – use anything other than your primary email address.
That way, if and when SPAM starts to become a problem – you just close that email address down and set up another one.
Remember: an email address need NOT identify you in any way. It can be any combination of words, letters, and numbers. As long as you are receiving the information, it does NOT matter to what email address it is being sent to.
An email address is simply a way for people to contact you online – much like using a post office box instead of your home address offline.
In my next post, I’ll give you a few more important internet safety tips.
But for now, this is an easy first step.
