Email plays a vital role in our professional lives. For most of us, it’s the primary form of corporate communication. Unfortunately, email also plays a key role in rising global cybercrime rates, being a common hotspot for phishing scams, fraud, and other forms of spam or social engineering. Statistics show that 45% of all emails are spam, and with more businesses moving online due to COVID-19, such crimes have grown ever-more prevalent.
Thankfully, there are effective methods for keeping spam at bay, ensuring personal and business data protection. We delve into our key tips below.
Keep your email address private
An easy way to avoid spam is to keep your email address private and hidden from public display on social media platforms or your personal website. Some networking platforms offer the option of sharing your address exclusively to those you know and trust.
Instead of disclosing your email, use built-in messaging tools on social platforms for building connections. If you own a business and need potential clients or customers to reach out to you, tools such as JotForm and Google Forms provide a safe method for initial contact without having to share your email.
Having your address publicly available makes it easy for cybercriminals to find and exploit it using common web-scraping tools.
Use anti-spam filters
To make the most out of your email's anti-spam filter, "train" it by marking appropriate messages as “spam” rather than simply deleting them. By continually using the "Mark As Spam" feature, your filter gets smarter at accurately identifying and getting rid of spam emails, eventually keeping your inbox clean and spam-free.
You can also make use of third-party filters. Our experts at Founders Technology, for example, provide email security services to ensure your business is safe from common viruses and cyberattacks that often target inboxes.
Avoid suspicious emails
You can better protect your data if you know how to spot a suspicious email, link, or attachment. While they often take the form of a legitimate brand or company, common phishing emails often contain clunky, unprofessional writing. They also address you with generic greetings (i.e., “Hi Dear!”) rather than your actual name, and use a domain that looks similar to the one used by the entity they're impersonating. What's more, they typically urge you to enter your personal details through a provided link.
Of course, it also helps to avoid opening a suspicious email in the first place. It may contain a "tracking pixel" that notifies the sender that you've opened the email. Tracking pixels also enable the sender to collect information such as your IP address and the type of device you used to open the email. They could use this information to carry out fraudulent activities or launch attacks. Fortunately, you can avoid emails with tracking pixels using third-party tools such as Ugly Email and Pixel Block. Both of these alert you that a tracker is hidden inside the email by showing an eye icon in the email's subject line.
Avoid signing up for promotions or newsletters you don’t need or trust
Finally, keep pesky spam messages or promotional mail to a minimum by only signing up to companies or brands you trust and genuinely want to see emails from.
It can also help to read their privacy policies, as companies will often state whether your data will be shared with other partnered businesses or entities. However, as a general rule, it’s best to share your address with reputable businesses only.
At best, shady companies may sell your information to others without your permission. At worst, they may use it to commit fraud, phishing attacks, or other forms of online criminal activity.
Keep your email spam-free with Founders Technology Group!
With email being the primary means of business communication, it pays to keep your inbox protected and spam-free.
Founders Technology Group is your one-stop service for all things IT, including email security and spam protection solutions. Keep email communication worry-free with our high-grade filtering tools, 24/7 monitoring, password management, and quality cybersecurity.
Maintain healthy tech systems with our experts at Founders Technology — get in touch today.