Email addresses

Strong passwords still have one weak point, and that’s the associated email address. You can beat this by using free email alias features on Gmail and Outlook to protect yourself in data breaches.

An email alias is a forwarding address, meaning that all emails addressed to the alias, are forwarded to one or more specified accounts. They are used for specific purposes. This is easy to do. Say your email is johndoe@gmail.com and you need an email for online banking with NAB. Between your name and the @ symbol type “+” followed by the business name. e.g. johndoe+nab@gmail.com. This will be identified as a unique email address online, but all emails to it will be sent to johndoe@gmail.com.

There are also browser extensions such as SimpleLogin and Polycred that can be used to automate the use of email aliases. Think of email aliases as access gates to your farm. You may have a gate for harvesting equipment, a gate for livestock, a gate for vehicles and a gate specifically for workers. While they all lead to the farm, each one has a specific purpose (like harvesting equipment so as not to damage the gate used by vehicles).

Interactive activity

However, data breaches still occur, and passwords will be compromised. To address this, use Have I Been Pwned: Check if your email has been compromised in a data breach. Have your email addresses been compromised? If so, how many times? Now think who may have your email address and what they can do with it. Further, is the password used on that compromised account unique, or used on multiple websites?

• If you find that your email has been compromised, it is important not to panic. Likewise, don’t disregard it either. Try and recall if the password used on that website is unique to that website or used elsewhere. If it is used elsewhere, it’s time to update your passwords to something unique and enable 2FA or MFA on your accounts.
• If the websites allow it, update your email accounts to a quick email alias while you are at it. Even on a website that hasn’t been compromised. Think of it like checking a gate.  Just because it was closed yesterday, doesn’t mean it is going to be closed today. There’s no point in shutting the gate after the horse has already bolted.