Communication is very important, it allows us to grow and to exchange information. In the modern society we use emails, social media networks and messaging software to exchange information. Emails are a very effective way to exchange information because it will allow you to keep track of the send and received emails. You could see that as a extra security layer, it allows you to keep insight in your gathered information, if managed correctly of course.

We have decided to create a list of the best email security tips which you can use at home and at your business / work environment. The email security tips have been collected from government websites and have been crafted after years of experience in the information technology world.

Strong passwords

The first best email security tip is the knowledge of using a strong password for your email and other environments. I understand that it might be hard to think of a strong password, but did you know that you can use full sentences to create a strong password?! For example, you could take the following password (Do not use this one): EmailSecurityIsVeryImportant!1990

The sentence above is easy to remember and it is a strong password. The password above is very hard to brute force as it holds over 10 characters.

Spam

We all  hate spam, but it is a part of the internet, so why fight it?! Just go with the flow, create a special folder for the e-mails which are send from persons you know. You can create a rule in your email software which allows you to filter and order the legit emails to the specified folder. In this way you will be sure to receive to emails which you need to receive and you will only need some minutes to filter your Main inbox, which often receives spam email messages.

Malware

Malware is often hidden in malicious emails which are send by unknown senders, do not open the attachments and make sure that you have an official and legit antivirus installed on your computer. The antivirus software will protect you against various desktop orientated malware. These types of malware often get installed via malicious links which are send via emails and instant messaging software like the Facebook messenger application.

Updates

Update your email software – the update is required because it will protect the software against the latest known viruses and vulnerabilities. The vulnerabilities are often exploited by hackers which are after personal information.

Public WiFi

Hackers often lure at public WiFi spots because it will allow them to gain information fast. A lot of these public WiFi environments are not protected against hacker attacks. The hackers are able to perform man in the middle attacks which will provide them insight in your internet traffic (your emails which are send or downloaded) so it is recommended to avoid these type of environments, but if you have to use an Public WiFi environment – make sure that you install an Virtual Private Network (VPN) which will allow you to create an secure connection to a server – in this way it will be hard (not impossible) for the hacker to obtain your emails.

Services  which scammers and hackers often use

Scammers and hackers will often use specific packages and services to hide themselves. These services are often offered for free by web service providers. The web service providers are aware of the fact that their environments are being used by scammers and hackers, but they are often unable to keep track of these type of environments. It always helps to report an malicious domain to the service provider which is hosting the environment, it will not result in an immediate takedown, but it will allow them to monitor the environment.

Cloudflare is often used by scammers and hackers to protect their domain against unwanted scans. Cloudflare provides an extra layer of security by redirecting the traffic first via the Cloudflare service. If the traffic is legit, it will be redirected to the requested website, if it is not legit, it will be redirected to the security environment of CloudFlare.

The NO-IP service is often used by scammers and hackers to redirect a specific domain to multiple addresses within a month. The NO-IP service allows the users to create an sub domain on one of the prefixed NO-IP domains. Once the domain has been crafted, the user will be able to lock any address to the domain. This method is often used by hackers which operate remote access Trojans and command and control servers.

Identification of attacks

Malware and malicious codes can be identified by various signatures and signs which are crafted by the malware or the hackers. We have listed some of the known methods which are used by scammers and hackers:

Imitation of known websites like Google Mail. Scammers and hackers imitate these environments to gain personal information from unaware users.

Shocking and explicit content are often used by scammers and hackers to lure unaware users to their malicious environments. The reason behind the use of these type of content is the fact that it a lot of people are interested in viewing shocking or explicit content, and the hackers and scammers are aware of this.

Scammers and hackers will often use non-logical names to trick users.