Is Your Email Secure?
02/27/2018 -
Are you using secure email practices? Do you know what a passphrase is? Please take a moment to test your knowledge and brush up on important tips from SCOE IT to keep your email account safe.
- Create a secure password using a modern scheme known as a pass phrase. Here is information on how to create a pass phrase. Be sure to use a different password or pass phrase for every account—do not reuse passwords.
- Don't click on or open attachments included in emails from unknown email addresses.
- Learn how to spot an attempt at phishing. This includes avoiding responding to emails from an unknown address, never sending personal identifying information over email, and only conducting online transactions on secure sites, denoted by HTTPS instead of simply HTTP.
- Never ever email your social security number and never request a social security number through email.
- Clicking links in an email is dangerous. A few things you can do to combat this danger: Hover over the link and verify the address by looking at the bottom left hand corner of your screen. If the URL is shortened, use a URL expander such as https://www.checkshorturl.com
- Be sure to log out of your email whenever you're checking it on a shared computer. Also consider browsing in incognito mode on a shared computer. Learn more about incognito mode here.
If you have questions about how to keep your email account secure, please email helpdesk@scoe.org for more information.
