Can multiple email addresses protect you from crooks?

“If you’re tech-savvy and you have the skills and the ability to manage multiple email accounts appropriately, then that’s the best practice,” she says. DON’T BITE OFF MORE THAN YOU CAN

CHEW. If a person sets up too many email accounts, the complexity may increase the risk of victimization, says Christopher Budd, director of threat research for global cybersecurity firm

Sophos. Budd likens a person with too many accounts to a homeowner who has a $20,000 security system but doesn’t know how to use it. The costly bells and whistles are not “going to protect

you as well as a good deadbolt lock that you had installed and know how to operate,” he says.  THREE IS A MAGIC NUMBER. Some people are comfortable with multiple email accounts. Tony

Anscombe, the chief security evangelist with ESET cybersecurity, encourages people to maintain a separate email account but only for banking and financial transactions. “It’s very, very rare

that you hear of a bank or financial organization having a data breach,” he says. “That’s because they take cybersecurity so seriously.” Anscombe suggests using a second email account for

communicating with friends and family, and a third “throwaway” account — sometimes called a “burner” account — for party invitations, online discounts, newsletters and other noncrucial

communication. If too much junk or spam floods the throwaway account, just delete the account and start a new one, he says. LOVE IT OR HATE IT, EMAIL PREVAILS Even with texting, chat apps

and other ways to communicate, email remains huge, according to The Radicati Group of Palo Alto, California, which estimated nearly 4.5 billion email users worldwide sent 362 billion emails

a day in 2024.  At Gmail, Richendrfer urges users to consider a secure alternative to a password, like a passkey. It lets you sign onto Gmail with a fingerprint, face scan or device screen

lock, such as a PIN. Unlike passwords, passkeys can exist only on your devices; they can’t be written down or accidentally passed on to a cyber crook. Velasquez favors the use of

consent-based biometrics for authentication purposes. Though people may be squeamish about it, your face isn’t a secret. “You wear it outside every day,” she says. When people balk at

providing a facial recognition scan, she reminds them that if you have a driver’s license, the state already has your photo. 8 MORE EMAIL TIPS FROM THE PROS 1. KEEP YOUR EMAIL ADDRESSES

PRIVATE. Share them only with those who need to know. Never incorporate personal information, such as your date or year of birth in your email address or password.