We use our emails everyday, and because most of us are not tech savvy; here are 3 simple ways to protect your email from identity theft and other security risks:

• Separate your email accounts

Reduce risk of losing your email account by spreading your inbox over multiple accounts. Registering at multiple email providers is easy and free. For example, separate your work email from your personal one.

A good practice would be to use different emails to register or subscribe at unknown websites. It will also reduce clutter. Keep sensitive details such as banking details in a different email so that if a hacker manages to steal one of your emails they won’t find all the important information easily, instead they’ll find newsletters and message boards.

• Use email readers

E-mail readers, including Outlook, Windows Live Mail, Thunderbird, and Apple Mail can be configured to check multiple accounts simultaneously (including Gmail), to minimize the inconvenience of keeping tabs on separate accounts.

Using email clients such as Outlook, Thunderbird and Windows Live Mail is not only convenient for checking multiple accounts it also saves you the trouble of having to sign in and off your email accounts, reducing the risk of jeopardized emails. Email clients also archive email messages so you will always have a backup of all your emails in one place.

• Use webmail carefully

It’s great that we can use email anywhere through the web, but when you open your Gmail, Yahoo or Microsoft account using a public computer at the library or on somebody’s laptop, you have to remember not only to sign out but also to close the browser. It’s easy to be distracted and forget. You would be advised to not open your email on anyone else’s computer but if you have to, turn on “private browsing” or “incognito mode” if possible before you anything. Remember to exit private mode at the end of your webmail usage and the browser will destroy any history or cookies associated with your session.

There are more complicated ways to protect your email that includes plugins and softwares, but most of the time, what put us at risk is poor knowledge of simple security practices and negligence.

Do you have more tips for email protection? Please share with us in the comments section.