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So you think that a single email address is all you need, eh?  Today, I would like for you to reexamine that idea and think of some new things.  First, while you can assume that you are an honest person, there's no foundation for assuming that everyone else on the web will be honest...  We've all heard of hackers trying to get your passwords by impersonating someone whom you do trust.  We've also all experienced moments of rage as our in-boxes become filled with useless spam.  Let's look at some scenarios and examine the vulnerabilities...

Scenario One: "List sellers" and "Stolen lists" -- Companies to whom you give your email address often promise not to share it with others.  Do you believe them?  Perhaps and perhaps not.  But even when that retailer or web site is not planning to sell your email address, what about the hackers that attack their mass mail servers which are often not very secure--then steal massive lists of email addresses?

Scenario Two: "Social Engineer Hacking" -- Let's say you've filed your taxes online... then a few days later you get an email saying that instead of getting a refund, you will actually owe money and you have to pay now to avoid being arrested in 24 hours.  (that's a real scam on the Internet)  Or, let's say something less severe...you get an email claiming to be from your bank indicating that you've over-drafted and you need to log in to check on the status of the payment.  In either case, how do you know that the email is legitimate?  How do you know it is not someone trying to steal your password and drain your bank account?

Scenario Three:  "Spam Avalanche" -- A;though you've been careful for years, it seems that the volume of spa getting past your spam filters grows every week and now you're starting to miss real and legitimate emails because you are in such a rush to delete the infuriating spam, you accidentally erase emails you wanted along with the trash...

You will be exempt from none of these scenarios.  Fact is, the Internet is the Wild, Wild West--and there are not many sheriffs to help you.

Here's a simple tip for saving yourself a boatload of headaches:  Use multiple email addresses.  Most email providers, including UniMatrix xSP, charge nothing for alias email addresses and by utilizing narrowly focused addresses and normal email filters, you can breath easier and be less stressed about the Internet.  Let's look at how this will help in each of the three scenarios...

Scenario One:  You've set up an email alias just for use by your local Little League and it dutifully files into its predetermined folder in your mailbox.  Suddenly, one day, you are flooded in that one email box with spam.  Now, you know you didn't give that address to anyone else and you are pretty confident that the people running the local Little League would not intentionally give out your address.  So now, you have two powers:  one is to let the Little League folks know that their mail server may have been compromised and second, you can simply turn off that email address and give the Little League folks a new address.  Thus, spam stops, and you can still communicate with the League.

Scenario Two:  Let's say you have set up a special email address that you have only ever given to your bank and those emails go directly into a specific folder in your email.  Then, you get a terrifying email in your main inbox claiming that your bank account has been hacked or that you're overdrafted or that you must log in to re-authenticate your account or lose access to your money.  Now, since the email was sent to the wrong email address, i.e., one that you never gave the bank, you can rest assured that the email is a fraud and you can safely ignore it.  (Though you should forward it to your bank's fraud department so they can take step to help protect their other customers.)

Scenario Three:  You love online shopping and one of the addresses you routinely use for shopping is getting inundated with spam.  Well, simply shut down the alias and the spam stops.  But, the rest of your email continues unimpeded (same idea as in scenario one).

Well, there you have it...  excellent reasons why you should have multiple email addresses and which you should actively create and shut down as appropriate.  If you have any specific questions about how to implement these ideas, please log into our customer webcasts or contact one of our technical support representatives for assistance using UniMatrix's email settings and servers to your full advantage.

See you next month!