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Simple, Affordable Tips to Help Keep Your Sensitive E-Mail Messages Secure
Did you know that when you click "send" on an e-mail to your customer, client, or friend, more people than just the intended recipient can read it? E-mail is such a common form of communication that we sometimes forget how easily e-mail content can be viewed by other. Whether you are e-mailing clients, your lawyer, or even your child's teacher, you should treat your message as a confidential communication that requires some simple, low-cost security measures.
Who Needs to Protect E-Mail Content?
If you've ever e-mailed business contracts or invoices, your Social Security number, credit-card numbers or other information regarding your finances or health, then you need to take steps to protect your e-mail content.
Consider your e-mail messages to be much like a postcard that you drop in the mail. Like a postcard, your messages and any attachments can be viewed by anyone involved in transporting them from you to your intended recipients. If you don't take steps to keep your messages private, your sensitive information could fall into the wrong hands.
Prying eyes can view your e-mail messages at several points of access: through the e-mail servers at any Internet Service Provider (ISP) involved in transmitting the messages, by hacking into your e-mail account through your ISP's servers, or even by sharing the same computer at work, home or in a public facility such as an Internet cafe. You can help to safeguard your e-mail by following these five tips:
1. Be aware of the risks. Keep in mind that ISPs may store e-mail messages and attachments that pass through their mail servers, possibly for months. In addition, hackers can often tap into e-mail during transmission or by gaining access to e-mail accounts.
2. Don't send vital business or personal information in an unencrypted e-mail. Without encryption, private information such as customer information, contracts, or passwords can be viewed or stolen. Did you know that most e-mail accounts, including the free e-mail products currently available, don't include encryption?
3. Use a secure, encrypted e-mail product to send sensitive
business or personal information. When you e-mail sensitive information, make sure you use a product like MessageGuard from Network Solutions. Affordable and easy to use, MessageGuard is a subscription service that allows you to send and receive encrypted e-mail and attachments with your existing e-mail account using Outlook or Outlook Express e-mail clients or through Network Solutions' Webmail.
4. Never reply to e-mails requesting your personal information. Be sure that you know who sent the e-mail: Scammers can "spoof" the sender's address, making it appear that the e-mail came from a trusted source like PayPal or eBay. If you are not expecting the e-mail or if the sender is unknown, be sure to verify the sender and gain a better understanding about why you are being contacted for your personal information.
5. Don't leave your e-mail open for others to view. Log off your computer when you walk away from your desk at home or in the office. Consider passwords for multiple users of one machine, particularly if you are not using password-protected Web access for your e-mail.
Today, there are plenty of advertisements about identity theft reminding us that we should secure our credit cards, Social Security numbers and business identification numbers, but we sometimes forget that such information may be easily obtained via e-mail. Be sure to treat your e-mail with as much dedication to security as your credit cards and private documents.
For more information about MessageGuard, visit http://messageguard.networksolutions.com.
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