E- mail Security

By Cru3L

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

Any queries…????

thAt’s All folk’s…..Thank u.