Introduction
It is a paradox that in spite of the advances
in technology that we are witnessing today one's
privacy and security of data in the internet is
often compromised to a very large extent. Often,
personal information of individuals is stolen
or financial data of companies are whisked away
by elements who could put this information to
the wrong use. It is in this scenario that privacy
of data has become an important issue for computer
users all over the world. Privacy of data becomes
more important when one works in a public domain
like the Internet. This paper will suggest some
of the precautions that an ordinary person needs
to take to maintain personal privacy and ensure
safety of data while working with emails.
Analysis
The advent of the internet has changed the way
in which technology was being used to support
businesses as well as personal needs of users
worldwide. Little did people realize that the
internet would establish itself as a powerful
facilitator of the needs of the common man in
such a short period of time. However the same
facilities that the Internet offers can also be
a potential source for dissemination of our private
information without us even knowing about it.
Email security threats may be of many different
types. Email security can be compromised by spoofing,
identity theft, attacks by modifying existing
messages, and imposters [Kangas, 2004]. Hackers
may use any or all of these methods to break into
a user's computer.
Email security
Email is one of the most potent sources for losing
our data because most people are complacent about
enforcing email security. Email software is also
the most used software among computer users. Hence,
any vulnerability of popular email software can
be easily exploited by unscrupulous elements to
gain entry into the private data of a lot of people.
Hence, it is very important that every one use
secure email clients for receiving and sending
emails. A lot of reputed email clients are available
and the company that makes them releases security
patches from time to time. All these patches from
the company must be installed to plug any software
vulnerabilities.
It must be understood that the computer architecture
that is used to exchange emails are not very secure
and does not provide for much privacy for the
users. On the other hand, software like 'sniffers'
is available in the market, which can effectively
capture data that is meant for some other computer.
Hence, the need for encrypting data is very important.
Encryption techniques ensure that messages meant
for a person can be read by that person alone.
A very well known email encryption is PGP (Pretty
Good Privacy) that is free and secures [Engelfriet,
1998].
An easy way for computer hackers to steal information
is by using viruses and Trojans, which are computer
programs that perform undesired actions on one's
computer without one's knowledge. Hence, all emails
must be scanned with good anti-virus software.
Similarly, emails from entrusted sources must
not be opened and have to be checked for viruses
before they are opened [GFI, 2004; Slavic, 2004].
Privacy of email user is compromised by spammers
who send unsolicited mails to one’s address.
In addition to being a nuisance, spam wastes a
lot of email server space thereby jeopardizing
the receipt of important mails. In addition, spam
may also contain viruses and Trojans that could
seriously harm one's computer. It is very essential
to keep one's email id private in order to avoid
spam. It is always advisable to keep alternate
email addresses that may be used when email ids
have to be given for website registrations. Hackers
have been known to use the names in the address
line of personal email ids to crack email passwords.
By keeping your email private, and publishing
only an alternate email id that can be discarded
at will, users can avoid being tracked by cookies,
prevent spammers, and also prevent easy access
for hackers.
It is advisable to install and use personal firewall
software in order to prevent security threats
and also to protect the identity of the user's
machine on the Internet. When a user logs on to
the Internet, sites will be able to identify the
user's IP address, which could help hackers to
break into the user's computer. A firewall provides
an additional level of security to the user so
that his personal details are hidden from hackers
on the net [Steve Gibson, 2004]
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