GeekByte: 7 Things to Do to Keep Your Email Safe

Spammers and virus/spyware writers are getting smarter and smarter nowadays. Here are a few tips on keeping yourself safe against their attacks.

1. The number one means of protection is education. Know what to open and what not to open (see below), and always be cautious even if it makes you sound paranoid.

2. One of the latest spam emails is the fake greeting card notification. Usually this one will say that “a family member,” “college friend,” or some other vague acquaintance has sent you a greeting card. Your name is nowhere in the email either. Do not click on the link in the email. A legitimate greeting card company will have their company name, the name of the person sending you the card, and your name in the email somewhere. In other words, more than likely a greeting card notification from Hallmark will be ok to open. When in doubt, give the friend who supposedly sent you the greeting card an email or call and verify that they did indeed send you something to brighten your day.

3. If you get an email that looks like it’s from your bank or other financial institution asking for your bank account information, don’t enter it. Don’t click on any links in that email either. You may also get an email saying your eBay or PayPal account (or a variety of other possibilities) has a problem and you need to click on a link to reactivate it. Even if you do have an eBay or PayPal account, don’t trust this email! If a bank or other company needs to verify anything with you, they won’t ask you to enter any information through an email.

4. Never open an attachment unless you are expecting one from someone. When in doubt, again verify with the sender that they did in fact intend to send you that attachment. Even I’ve emailed friends and coworkers asking if they emailed me attachments or links.

5. Never click on any links in an email unless you know the sender is legit and meant for you to click on it.

6. ALWAYS keep your virus definitions up to date. Without the latest definition files, your computer won’t know about any new viruses out there and can’t keep you protected.

7. Run antispyware software such as Windows Defender. It’s a freebie from Microsoft. You must have Windows XP (SP2 please!) or Windows Vista to run it. There are plenty pieces of free antispyware software out there, including Ad-Aware and Spybot. Your antispyware program should be set to auto update as well. Just like virus definitions, spyware definitions are constantly being updated and you need the latest to stay protected.

If you do get any of the email types listed above, just simply delete them. With a little extra caution you will greatly reduce your chances of getting spyware or a virus on your system.