What can you do to protect your email from identity thieves?

Email hacks can lead to identity theft.  Recently, Susan Antrach was charged with allegedly hacking celebrity Selena Gomez’s email account.  Prosecutors also allege that Antrach hacked an email account of one of Selena Gomez’s unnamed associate.  Wonder who that could be?

Antrach was charged with 11 different felonies related to the 2015 and 2016 email hacks.  The felony charges include 5 counts of identity theft.  Other felony charges include fraud and accessing and using data without permission.  If convicted of the crimes, Antrach who is 21, could receive almost 10 years in prison.

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Celebrities are not the only people at risk for email hacks. Regular people are targeted specifically and randomly for identity theft.  The identity thief may send you phishing email with malware that can be used to capture your emails.  Malware may also be programmed to log your keystrokes.  Key loggers can be used to record your user name and password to websites that may contain your personal or financial information.

What can you do to protect your email from identity thieves?

Here’s 5 tips to protect your email from identity thieves.

1. Choose a strong password.  Choose a strong password which includes letters, numbers and characters.  The longer the password the more difficult it is for hackers to access your account.
2. Change your passwords at least once per year.  The longer that you use the same password the greater the risk for your email and other accounts to be hacked by identity thieves. When hackers get an old password they will not be able to access your account.
3. Use multifactor authentication.  Multifactor authentication requires more than one type of password to access an account.  This may be an email password, plus an authentication code sent to your phone by text.
4. Use biometrics.  Biometric authentication can help keep your email accounts secure. When a biometric match, such as a fingerprint or iris scan, is required to access an account, identity thieves can’t access your account with the password. Microsoft Outlook offers a free app for IOS users, which enables users to require a biometric match to open the Outlook account on a Apple device.
5. Don’t click on links or attachments from unknown senders.  Identity thieves send phishing emails with links or attachments.  When you click on the link or attachment malware may be downloaded to your computer that copies your passwords.

In addition to these 5 tips to protect your email account from hackers, you should order your free credit reports from Equifax, Experian and Trans Union.  False items on your credit report could be a red flag for identity theft! Click Free Annual Disclosure Request Form to download a free form to order your free credit reports from Equifax, Experian and Trans Union.

The Adkins Firm represents identity theft victims.  We represent identity theft victims who have errors on credit or background reports.  We also represent clients who receive calls or letters from debt collectors for debts that do not belong to them.

If you are a victim of identity theft, then you should contact us for a free case review.   Call 1-800-263-9091 24/7 to schedule a free case review. Remember, it’s your credit report!