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How safe is your email?

This message applies to all users of email systems, such as Hotmail, GMail or Yahoo, that can only be accessed through a web browser.

Several HPS members recently received an email, claiming to come from another HPS member and asking for temporary financial help to settle a hotel bill following the loss of a wallet. The email was fairly well written, did not ask for money directly but only to “contact me if you can help”, addressed to the recipient personally and came from the correct email address - but it was a scam.

It seems that criminals had discovered the member's email password. Although we don't know exactly how they did this, it's possible that they just kept trying until they discovered the correct password. Therefore it is important to choose a password that is hard to crack.

Choose a longer password - at least 10 characters. For example, what about the Latin name of a plant?
Add a number to the end, or (preferably)
Replace some of the letters with numbers (zeros for letter o's, three for e's etc.) or add punctuation marks
Make some letters into captitals and not just at the beginning. For example, make all the letter a's into capitals.

It's also possible that the criminals stole the password from the Internet Service Provider. Therefore, it is a good idea to limit the damage that criminals can do if they do access your email account. If you have an email account that is accessed through a web browser, such as Hotmail, GMail or Yahoo, your address book is also kept on the web server. This means that the criminals can target the people that you know and make it look like the email came from you. That's what happened in this case. Naturally, the criminals changed the password so they can see the replies and our member was unable to access the account to send follow-up messages or even to see who was in the address book.

Some systems can be configured so that they do not automatically put details automatically into the address book. If, when you start to send an email, the system inserts the recipient's full name when you type the first few characters then it is storing the details in your address book.

Should you have a system that does not allow you to turn off automatic address storing, try to delete rarely used addresses frequently. Also, keep a printout of the addresses that are in your address book. That way, if you should find yourself barred from accessing your email account, you can get a friend to email all the people in your address book, telling them that you are safe and to ignore any other message that apparently comes from you.