Electronic mail is a method of exchanging messages between people using electronic devices. Invented by Ray Tomlinson, email first entered limited use in the 1960s and by the mid-1970s had taken the form now recognized as email. Email operates across computer networks, which today is primarily the Internet. Almost every online account you open requires an email address. If you are an Internet user an email account is a must have. Imagine if you opened all your online accounts using the same email address and that email address somehow got hacked. Hahaha, thats the end of your cyberlife because by just hacking your email a hacker got access to all your online accounts (Literally your whole cyber life is at its end).
What can you do to avoid such a horrifying incident? It is as simple as using multiple email addresses for multiple purposes. It might be a pain in the ass to use multiple email addreses b ut your cyber life actually gets more organized this way. My method is to have an email address for each type of online account. Here is some ways to organize your emails.
1. Social Media / Chat Services
Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Snapchat, Reddit and etc. There are so many social media platforms these days and I am sure you at least 2 or more of these accounts. Use one email for these kind of accounts. You could use any email service for thse accounts but if you are worried about Gmail tracking you, there are so many other services out there to choose from.
2. Newsletters
BBC, CNN, TechCrunch and etc. There are so many sites that offer to send newsletters to your email address. At a time where we are starting to forget newspapers, most of us are already switching to newsletters. One or two email addresses will be fine for subscribing to newsletters. It is up to you because if you are okay with receiving all newsletters in one email address it’s okay or you could use more to separate them according to your needs. Any email service is fine for this since this email is just for newsletters.
3. Online Banking
One of the most critical online accounts. One wrong step you are gonna have your savings stolen then you have to be begging on the streets for money. I would suggest using a secured email services like ProtonMail or Tutanota. This emails are from the EU so they are subject to EU privacy laws which is better than the American ones. Furthermore these emails use state of the art encryption. They are great in protecting your privacy and they are open source. One of these emails should do the trick. If you are really concerned you could even use separate email addresses for each bank account you have. To me just one email for all your bank accounts should be fine if you use ProtonMail or Tutanota.
4. Online Shopping/Crypto Exchange
Who goes shopping at a physical store these days? Everything from groceries to electronics is a few clicks a way on Amazon, Ebay, Alibaba, Flipkart and etc. These accounts are as critical as online banking accounts. Just follow the steps for online banking. ProtonMail and Tutanota should be fine for online shopping. Even for using crypto exchanges like CoinBase and Binance, it is best that you use a separate email address that is secured for this purpose.
5. Official Uses
Government, applications and etc. Please make sure you have a separate email address for official purposes. Obviously it would make your life convenient. For these kind of online accounts it is better to use popular emails like Gmail, Yahoo, Icloud, Outlook and AOL. Sometimes these sites recognise only the popular emails.
6. Work/School
I am sure if you use one email address for everything, your work related emails are there and if that email was hacked it could be a pain in the ass. Use a separate email for work or use the one provided by your company. This simple step could really save you. Even for school there might be students who want to hack your email so if you used a separate email for school and it got hacked, don’t worry cause all your other online accounts are still safe.
7. Comunication
You will also need an email for communication with your family and friends. Also for this use a popular email service cause you don’t want all your family members emailing you to ask what is Protonmail or Tutanota. When you use a separate email to communicate with your family and friends, you will not accidentally forward them your bank statement.
8. Emergency
A back up email is important. Make sure you use an email service that is different from the other ones you have used. This email is just for an emergency if any of those other emails had issues you could switch to this one easily.
9. Disposable Emails
Disposable email address, also known as DEA or dark mail, refers to an approach where a unique email address is used for every contact or entity. The benefit is that if anyone compromises the address or utilises it in connection with email abuse, the address owner can easily cancel it without affecting any of their other contacts. You could use this email service to test out any new online accounts. If you didn’t like that online account just dispose your email. His is not a Dark Web service. It is available for public use to. If you are on Android do try this app Instant Email Address - Multipurpose free email!. Here are some good sites that offers this service.
You could fine a list of email services to choose from in this app on Google Play Store All Email Providers. Make sure to use different email services for each category of online accounts. Why? If one email service was involved in a data breach, you are not badly affected, only a few online accounts not all will face the effects of the data breach. Hope this idea is useful for you and thanks for reading.
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Reference
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Email
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Disposable_email_address
