Why Switching Your Email is Crucial for Cyber Security

With AI technology coming onto the scene, there will be an increase in the amount of hacks, scams, and spam in an incremental way. That is why it is a good idea to take our cyber security more seriously, protecting oneself online and avoiding unnecessary digital pollution.

In this way, personally I have 1 main personal email and 1 corporate email, but I also have 20 old emails that were previously my primary emails before I changed them, which is something I recommend you do the same immediately, especially if you haven’t done so for some time now.

The reason for this is that you will eventually get flooded with spam, which will waste your time, energy, and you aren’t getting anything back from this effort.

In this way, I know many people who are flooded with all sorts of emails and notifications, and they spend at least 1 hour per day sorting through all this digital pollution looking for those 1 or 2 relevant emails or notifications that are actually important.

In this way, personally, I first made a very strict system of unsubscribing from spam emails and turning off all but necessary notifications, but later I realized that even that wasn’t enough as I was still wasting a lot of my time. Indeed, it was easier to simply change my email and give it to the most relevant parties, making sure I knew in a palm of my hand who these parties were and why they needed my email.

It’s like receiving a call from an unknown number. Most people usually ignore it because it’s often spam or a scam attempt, and the same goes for emails and notifications. If I receive an email that I don’t recognize and it passes through my spam filters, I will check it, but if it’s not something vital, I will promptly unsubscribe and mark it as spam.

In this way, I’m reminded of rich, powerful, and famous people who change both their email and phone numbers on a regular basis because, even more than most, they are targets of unwanted attention.

In a similar way, I turn off all my smartphone notifications, as virtually every app nowadays sends notifications, including “you may know John Smith on Facebook,” which are a complete waste of time, especially if you have to deal with them repeatedly every day for dozens of applications that you have.

The same holds true for social media notifications, as these apps are designed to hold your attention, wasting your time, and consequently your life indefinitely. In this regard, my rule of thumb is simply not to use social media, to use it only as a notebook of contacts, to exclusively talk to people when you need them, or for your business, but not for personal use. You can, however, just pay attention to some accounts that interest you the most, but again, I’d recommend knowing in the palm of your hand what these accounts are and why you are following them.

In this way, most companies are only interested in your money, attention, and personal information, buying or mining complete Excel files of personal information, which they later resell to various interested parties.

As a result, once your email is out on the web in any significant manner, it becomes vulnerable and ultimately shared with various parties. This can occur deliberately, like when someone resells your information, or inadvertently, as in the case of personal accounts being hacked, along with the frequent hacking of large corporations.

In this way, I previously made a mistake by adding my corporate email to my LinkedIn profile hoping that some interested party would message me asking to do business. However, instead, I got loads of spam emails from just about anyone, as people just added my email to their email lists, reselling my information many times. I didn’t get virtually any noteworthy requests via that email, and haven’t been able to stop the inflow of spam emails until I actually changed my email.

In this way, I figured that if someone really needs my contact, they will find a way to reach me, as there are many ways to do so. Additionally, I gave a list of my old emails to my VA and asked them to review these emails every 6 months, so in case something important slipped through the crack, I will see it eventually. And as mentioned before, by knowing who I want to have my account, I proactively take note to keep these details updated.

A natural question then arises: “How often should I redesign my website?” To this, I would answer, every 3-5 years, more frequently if it becomes too labor-intensive.

It’s like changing your house, which if you have done recently, you will know how much unnecessary stuff you may find forgotten in storage. In fact, people who have recently moved are often overwhelmed by the enormity of this task, which is moving their stuff, asking “why do I suddenly have so many things?” and “do I really need all of it?” And while I have already addressed this question in a different blog post, today I want to show the similarity of that situation to the amount of information pollution we receive every day via our emails, which in turn should be decluttered regularly.

“But what if I miss something important?” someone might ask. Realistically, that could happen. However, just like the news that I suggest avoiding, if it’s truly significant, chances are you’ll hear about it eventually in another way. Ultimately, the time, energy, and peace of mind you’ll save will more than compensate for any inconvenience of missing something crucial.

Lastly, you don’t have to be well-known, rich, or powerful to consider changing your email, phone number, and overall approach to digital security. Nowadays, hackers, marketers, and others are targeting practically anyone, which is why I also suggest adding two-factor authentication to your accounts. Trust me, even if you believe you are not a target, you still need to protect yourself effectively to ensure your safety and, consequently, your happiness.

Takeaways:

– Update your email account – if you haven’t done so in the last 3-5 years.

– Change your phone number – if you are receiving too many spam calls.

– Avoid answering unknown phone calls – unless you are expecting one.

– Unsubscribe and mark unwanted emails as spam.

– Turn off unnecessary notifications from apps.

– Delete any unused apps.

– Enable two-factor authentication for your main accounts.