_IF SOMEONE TAKES OVER your primary email account, they effectively own your online presence. How? Most websites verify your identity by sending you an email, so if this account is compromised, they can recover any other account tied to your email. Fortunately there are a few things you can do to lock down your email accounts.
STEP 1
Use a long, complex, and unique password on your email account.
Read this guide to secure passphrase generation. Save your email password somewhere safe, like a password manager.
STEP 2
Lock down your email account with two-factor authentication.
We recommend this guide to two-factor authentication as an introduction. This resource will direct you to step-by-step instructions to enable two-factor authentication on your email account.
STEP 3
Don’t get phished!
Look out for emails with unsolicited attachments, and links leading to fake sign-in pages. Thwarting a phishingA scheme of using fraudulent emails or web pages disguised as legitimate ones to trick users into entering private information. attempt can be hard. Refer to this anti-phishing guide to learn the tricks of the trade.