e mail security
TRANSCRIPT
Introduction
• Although we now take the email for
granted, it is important to realise that - in
its most basic form, at least - it is not
necessarily a very secure or private
means of communication. In fact, email
has often been likened to the use of the
postcard in conventional postal systems: it
is open to being read or tampered with
during transmission, and it might not even
actually come from the person who
apparently sent it.
PREFACE• Email is a short word for electronic mail. You create texts and send them over a
network of computers. The first emails go back to the 1960s. The invention has
influenced our lives and emails have become a popular means of communication
•
• E-mail is now an established and increasingly
• essential channel of business and personal
• communication. As such, safeguarding its
• operation and integrity is an issue of widespread
• significance. At the same time, e-mail has proven
• itself to represent a considerable threat vector,
• providing a route for a variety of attacks including
• malware, phishing and spam. In addition, e-mail
• usage can introduce further risks if not
• appropriately guided and managed, with the
• potential for confidentiality to be compromised
• and reputations to be damaged. With these points
• in mind it is relevant for all stakeholders to
• consider their role in protecting e-mail and using
• the service appropriately.
Advantages & disadvantages of E-mail
• Advantages of emails• Emails are easy to use. You can organize
your daily correspondence, send and
receive electronic messages and save them
on computers.
• Emails are fast. They are delivered at once
around the world. No other form of written
communication is as fast as an email.
• The language used in emails is simple and
informal.
• When you reply to an email you can attach
the original message so that when you
answer the recipient knows what you are
talking about. This is important if you get
hundreds of emails a day.
• It is possible to send automated emails with
a certain text. In such a way it is possible to
tell the sender that you are on vacation.
These emails are called auto responders.
• Emails do not use paper. They are
environment friendly and save a lot of trees
from being cut down.
• Emails can also have pictures in them. You
can send birthday cards or newsletters as
emails.
• Disadvantages of emails• Emails may carry viruses. These are
small programs that harm your
computer system. They can read out
your email address book and send
themselves to a number of people
around the world.
• Many people send unwanted emails to
others. These are called spam mails. It
takes a lot of time to filter out the
unwanted emails from those that are
really important.
• Emails cannot really be used for
official business documents. They may
be lost and you cannot sign them.
• Your mailbox may get flooded with
emails after a certain time so you have
to empty it from time to time.
E-mail forging
As the name says, send an
email from any email id in
the world without the
victims password.
Its also known as fake
mailer, just visit a Fake
Mailer and fill the form, Fill
every required fields. You
may also attach attachment
by the fake mailer.
Now, click on send and
victim has a fake mail.
Fake mail doesn't contain
any additional text like sent
by fake mailer, etc and
anyone can be easily
fooled.
phishingThe act of sending an e-mail to
a user falsely claiming to be an
established legitimate
enterprise in an attempt to
scam the user into
surrendering private
information that will be used for
identity theft. The e-mail
directs the user to visit a Web
site where they are asked to
update personal information,
such as passwords and credit
card, social security, and bank
account numbers, that the
legitimate organization already
has. The Web site, however, is
bogus and set up only to steal
the users information.
Phishing, also referred to as
brand spoofing or carding, is a
variation on "fishing," the idea
being that bait is thrown out
with the hopes that while most
will ignore the bait, some will
be tempted into biting.
Software Keylogger
A key logger, sometimes
called a keystroke logger,
key logger, or system
monitor, is a
small program that
monitors each keystroke a
user types on a specific
computer’s
keyboard. Using a key
logger is the easiest way to
hack an email account. A
key logger
program can be installed
just in a few seconds and
once installed you are only
a step
away from getting the
victim’s password.
Hardware Key loggers
Hardware key loggers have
an advantage over software
key logger as they can
begin logging from the
moment a computer is
turned on. All hardware key
logger devices have to
have the following:
A microcontroller - this
interprets the data stream
between the keyboard and
computer, processes it, and
passes it to the non-volatile
memory
A non-volatile memory
device, such as flash
memory - this stores the
recorded data, retaining it
even when power is lost
Securing Your Email Account
Even hackers feel insulted
when they come across
passwords like
“sweetlove123”,
“pass@123” and the like.
Google is the best when it
comes to putting real effort
into securing your email
account proactively. You
can use special characters,
numbers, upper and lower
case alphabets of almost
any length. My Gmail
password is between 60 to
80 characters long and my
general rule of thumb is to
have a password that only
the NSA can hack.
Use a Strong Password
Be sensible with your security question
Ok. There’s absolutely no point in having the
security question, “My favorite doggy”, and posting
pictures of you and your poodle with images titled
“Rolling with Rosy” on Facebook and Twitter. A lot
of personal information is available online, thanks
to social networks. On being the weakest links in
the email security chain, security questions rank
ahead of weak passwords. It’s nice to be an open
book but select a question from those stapled
pages and blacked out lines.
> Statistically, 1 in 5 email accounts gets hacked
> 540 million email accounts get hacked every year·> 62% of owners of hacked accounts are unaware
How to Prevent Email Password Hacking
Don't use the links in an email, instant message, or chat
to get to any web page if you
suspect the message might not be authentic or you
don't know the sender or user's handle
* Instead, call the company on the telephone, or log
onto the website directly by
typing in the Web address in your browser
* Avoid filling out forms in email messages that ask for
personal financial information
* You should only communicate information such as
credit card numbers or account
information via a secure website or the telephone
* Always ensure that you're using a secure website
when submitting credit card or other
sensitive information via your Web browser
* Regularly log into your online accounts
* Don't leave it for as long as a month before you check
each account
* Regularly check your bank, credit and debit card
statements to ensure that all
transactions are legitimate
* If anything is suspicious or you don't recognize the
transaction, contact your bankand all card issuers