The number of email users worldwide is expected to rise to 4.73 billion by 2026, making email one of the most important communication platforms in the digital age. For many people, an email address is their primary digital identity. Kaspersky looks at what scammers can do with a person’s email address and how to keep it safe.
“Just like our own name, an email address contains a huge amount of information associated with it. Both our professional and personal email addresses are among the top assets of interest to a growing community of sophisticated cybercriminals around the world,” says Brandon Muller, Technical Expert for the MEA region at Kaspersky.
Most online login forms, portals, e-commerce sites, and mobile apps require an email address. So, while hackers need passwords for both a person's email and online accounts to gain access, an email address is an important starting point for implementing different fraud scenarios.
Cybercriminals may target an individual through phishing emails that contain malware-laden attachments or malicious links to fraudulent websites. They may also employ sophisticated social engineering techniques to obtain personal data such as a person's bank account number, ID number, physical address, phone number, passwords, and more.
Another risk is email address spoofing. This involves creating a fake email address that looks like a person's address, but with minor, hard-to-detect changes (such as changing a number to a letter or adding a hyphen). Hackers can then extort that person's friends and family by impersonating them. This method is often not detected by email clients' spam filters.
Additionally, by using a reverse email lookup tool, a cybercriminal can find out who owns that specific email address. This can provide them with an important starting point to obtain as much of a person’s personal data as possible, available for free. Since many people’s emails often contain their name and an easy-to-remember number, usually a date of birth, these two identifying factors are enough for many cybercriminals to begin collecting more lucrative personal data online that can be used to steal an identity or commit financial fraud.
Protect an email address
Given the risks that exposing one's email address(es) can pose to one's privacy and personal and professional well-being, it is important to know how to protect an email address from unauthorized access.
Article page with financial support promotion Secure passwords
“One of the best ways to keep your email address secure is to use strong passwords. It’s difficult to steal personal information with just an email address and no password. That’s why a strong password of 10 to 12 characters, containing a mix of special characters, numbers, and upper and lower case letters, is one of the best ways to keep an email address secure,” Muller says.
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Memorizing passwords, especially those for infrequently used accounts, can be a challenge, and this is where a password manager can become an indispensable tool that acts as a private, encrypted vault that only you can unlock. This solution syncs across all devices and helps auto-fill login details, card payment details, and personal data for forms on any website or app.
Spam filters and blocking
It is important to ensure that your email provider's spam filter is always active. This reduces the likelihood of clicking on a malicious email or link. However, even with this in place, it is always good to remain vigilant in case such emails manage to get through the spam filter (which could happen with phishing, for example) and to block and report any suspicious emails to the service provider or IT team, when it comes to business emails.
Two-factor authentication
Two-factor authentication has become an essential element for businesses and consumers. Most reputable email clients offer this service as standard. This security measure requires a person to enter additional identifying information, such as a secret answer to a question or an authentication code sent to that user's mobile phone.
Burner Email Account
It is also a good idea for a person to use a “test” email account when signing up for a website or app that looks suspicious. This is an email account with fake or very little identifying information that can be scammed and hacked without fear of negative consequences.
Keep alert
Educating yourself on cybersecurity best practices is not something that can be done just once. Individuals should keep up to date with the latest training available in the company. Home users should also keep their software updated and never click on anything suspicious.
“You don’t know what you’ve got until it’s gone” – this phrase applies, in most cases, to email as well. Whether for personal or professional use, email has become the foundation of our digital lifestyle. People should remember how important it is to keep their email accounts secure, while at the same time being vigilant in an ever-evolving cybercrime environment,” concludes Muller.