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Without investing in a third party solution to increase email security, there are things the average user can do to prevent security problems. There are over 6 billion emails sent every DAY so it’s not hard to keep your email usage a little more secure than most users.

When forwarding an email, remove the information of the person who sent it you in the first place. It’s common to be forwarded an email and see dozens of email addresses of others who also received the email. These are easily removed before sending the forwarded note and lessen the chance that spammers or viruses can distribute their unwanted content to large recipient lists that they may find this way.

Also, whenever you are sending to a list, consider using BCC or “blind carbon copy” to insert their email addresses. There is rarely a good reason to include everyone’s name and email on the list for all to see. Remember, if you can see it, it’s easy for anybody to see it and this data should be hidden from view as much as possible.

An obvious suggestion is to really think about what you are sending before clicking that send button. In my corporate work environment, I am astonished at how many notes are sent out only to be recalled a few minutes later. It was either sent ot the wrong people or contained sensitive content that the sender didn’t want to divulge, but in either case, recalling it is totally ineffective. It simply says, “oops! I didn’t mean to send that to you! Please delete it and don’t read it”. Well, not everyone is going to be able to resist this email and, thinking that it must contain some juicy information, will just read it anyways. Sad but true, this is how most humans work!

Think about the subject line in your email. Many spammers will try to entice you to open an email by putting compelling text in the subject line. You can help differentiate your emails from spam by putting relevant, targeted words in the subject line. This will ultimately help the recipient gain confidence that it really is from you.

Blacklist spammers. You can set your spam filters to automatically get rid of spam, but the odd one will slip through. When this happens, just right click on the sender’s name and add to spam list or blacklist. This will ensure that that person can never send to you again.

Be patient when receiving attachments. Read the entire email and verify that the attachment really is something that the sender would have included. If in doubt, right click on the attachment icon and see if there is an option to directly scan it for viruses. The vast majority of viruses that infiltrate personal computers are put there by attachments.

These common sense ideas should be a starting point for you to increase your email security which is valuable not only for your personal benefit but the internet as a whole.

Communicating by email is not by any means secure. Here are some common threats that we are exposed to when not using encrypted email or email security.

A common email security problem is eavesdropping. Anyone who has access to the networks or computers through which your email is being routed potentially has the ability to read it. Even if the computers owned by the bad guys exist on networks near the email route, they can still manage to access the content of your emails.

Another security risk is identity theft. There are many different techniques that the bad guys can use to figure out what username and password you use to access your email servers. Once they have done this, they can access your email account as though they were actually you and read or send false email messages that appear as though they were sent by you. Bad guys wiull distribute viruses this way since the email containing the virus appears to have been sent by a trusted source.

If your email is routed through SMTP servers, anyone with access to these servers will also be able to read any of the emails they contain. This is not nearly as secure as you might think and the consequences are obvious. Additionally, plain text copies of all messages process through the SMTP server are often kept for years, providing a database of email names, addresses and content to anybody who can access the server. Obviously, the risk of that happening increases as time goes on.

There are lots of solutions to these problems but they are generally quite technical in nature and often not trivial to implement. A balance need to be struck between the sensitivity of the emails you send and receive against the possibility of the bad guys wreaking havoc on your life. In general, though, it pays to be aware of the risks and to take steps towards making your email communications as safe and as secure as possible.

Think about it. Governments around the world are routinely scanning the content of emails looking for indicators of terrorism or illegal activity. Sending an email is like sending a postcard; while in transit, it is very easily read by anyone with only a moderate amount of sophistication.

It is easy to send an email and make it seem as though it was sent by someone else. I receive spam emails that, honestly, completely appear to have been sent by me! Why a spammer would think that I could be lured into buying Viagra online in an email I sent to myself is beyond me, but that’s not the point. The point is that we should all be aware of the extent to which emails can be manipulated.

In fact, after you have sent an email to someone, it is possible to intercept it, change the content and send it on its way. This requires a bit more sophistication, but is very possible. Think about you sending an email to your boss or a co-worker and how such an act could irrevocably change your life. If you don’t think you need to practice email security or use email encryption, scenarios like this might make you change your mind. Using digital signatures in your email is a terrific way to combat this.

The purpose of this article isn’t to scare you or come across as all paranoid, but rather to introduce a sense of awareness around the issue of email security. There is no shortage of bad guys out there will never stop trying clever and innovative methods to gain by exploiting weaknesses in the internet. You don’t need to make their job any easier by turning a blind eye to besic email security.

And, if the content of your email is really important, such as sensitive business information, then you really should stop taking risks and explore more sophisticated measures to protect your emails.

The use of email as a means of connecting with others has become a commonplace part of our everyday lives. When it was all new and different, email was something we treated with caution and respect. Like any new tool, it was used very carefully as we were unsure of the benefits it offered but fully aware of the dangers.

Today, that has all changed. The tool we know as email is something that most of us can’t imagine living without and we scarecely give a thought as to the dangers that might be lurking. Sure, we all get the odd spam message that sneaks through the filters, but for the most part, email is a pretty benign part of our daily lives.

The reality is that email is never really secure. Any email you send or receive could easily be intercepted at any time. In addition, clever phishing emails can be so genuine looking that even the most hardened inernet communicator will open them, unexpectedly exposing themselves to the criminals who send them.

For example, suppose you found yourself the recipient of an innocent looking newsletter that you actually couldn’t remember subscribing to. No problem, there is a convenient “unsubscribe” link at the bottom which when clicked, promises to remove you from the list just as soon as you confim you email address. Presto! Get ready because the Spam train is headed for your inbox! Dangerous? Maybe not. But definitely annoying and there always is the possibility of a Trojan finding its way into your computer.

Receiving email from friends may also present a danger because you trust them to never send you anything bad, but in reality they may be sending you viruses or malware. This isn’t actually your friend putting you in danger, but could actually be a hacker using your friend’s computer as a zombie.

How do you protect yourself? Well, there are the usual techniques like anti-virus software, wireless encryption and good old common sense. But as phishers and hackers become more sophisticated, these methods will be less effective.

A dedicated email encryption solution might be the best answer. There are many options available and education is the best way to make the right choice.