Is your email safe ?

[HundredRoom]

Paranoia has set in for me regards gmail and hotmail.
When I added an email account to my smartphone I got a security alert message that Huawei now has access to my gmail account.

Im someone who keeps all my emails for years and tears , but when I think of all the documents I have sent via gmail it would not take Sherlock Holmes to build up my identity.

I have sent copies of my passport , NI number (from HMRC) bank account details (IBAN), copies of utility bills my address and postcode , date of birth.
All to companies , banks for proof of id and HMRC and on line share trading.
All of which have legitimate reasons to ask for such things.

I just read about a facebook scam where trust of payment and delivery of a laptop was done on the exchange of copies of passports which turned out to be a recirculating scam.
Although I would never send a copy of a passport to a private individual an insider at google , hotmail , Huawei could easily make a passport collection.

A few years ago my hotmail email account was hacked .The consequences of which was to use my account to send links to porn websites to everyone in my contacts list.
It was very embarrassing to friends , my boss , work colleagues and family.

Be safe online and always assume that someone can see your emails

 

[Fat_Dragon]

Make sure your account is protected by two-factor authentication so even if your password is stolen in a data breach etc... they still won't be able to access your account without your phone or authentication app credentials.

To check if your email address has been part of a data breach check on https://haveibeenpwned.com/

 

[HundredRoom]

Make sure your account is protected by two-factor authentication so even if your password is stolen in a data breach etc... they still won't be able to access your account without your phone or authentication credentials.

To check if your email address has been part of a data breach check on https://haveibeenpwned.com/

the pwned website is a good resource but it doesnt help against the man in the middle attacks - logging in on hotel networks etc.

Or even insider eavesdropping at google etc

Agreed two factor authentication is a big improvement
I came across ProtonMail which professes to encrypt all email data that they cant read themselves

 

[Fat_Dragon]

Whenever you use public wifi always use a VPN so your connection is encrypted

Change your passwords regularly and NEVER use the same password for different accounts as if one account is compromised then the rest will be as well.

A password manager is a great tool to have so you can use long complex passwords and not have to remember them. The only password you need to remember is the master password to login to the password manager

 

[BaronSmoggie]

Protonmail is good, but you should consider Tutanota for secure email.

Self hosted bitwarden for password security.

I just setup Wireguard VPN virtual machine on an RPI ESXi host so all of our traffic now goes across that server.

Unless you have a budget matching the NSA, there are only so many steps you can take. The target should be to obfuscate your identity, not hide it completely.

 

[Ebor]

My 2 main email accounts are compromised apparently . It's annoying and I have swapped to a new gmail account, but so far I haven't been seriously hacked via the other two

 

[FartingGnome]

Protonmail is good, but you should consider Tutanota for secure email.

Self hosted bitwarden for password security.

I just setup Wireguard VPN virtual machine on an RPI ESXi host so all of our traffic now goes across that server.

Unless you have a budget matching the NSA, there are only so many steps you can take. The target should be to obfuscate your identity, not hide it completely.

I now have a tutanota account, seemed good to me.

 

[Laughing]

Gmail in transit is safe due to the https protocol. 2 factor authentication should stop people accessing your account. Good advice from another poster about passwords.