Email safety and security
Email safety and security
What's coming up
In this activity, we'll look at some ways to use email safely and securely. You'll read about security questions, spam messages and how to deal with them, and other unwanted email. We'll also look at which websites are secure and clicking on links to websites from your emails.
Start activitySafe sign in
Now Salma has got to grips with how to send and receive emails, she needs to find out about how to keep safe when she's using her new email account. When Salma is signing into her account, there are a few ways to make sure that she's using email safely.
Salma needs to make sure her password is safe and secure. This means that she'll need to choose something that is easy for her to remember, but isn't easy for other people to guess.
Salma may have the option to 'stay signed in'. It's best to untick this box on a shared computer - for example in a library - because if she stays signed in, the next person to use the computer could see her messages.
Email providers may ask you to create a 'security question'. If Salma forgets her password, she can get her emails by answering her security question. Like a password, it should be easy to remember but difficult to guess.
Spam messages
Spam messages are unwanted messages that are usually sent to a lot of people. They can sometimes have harmful links in them, so it's best to avoid opening them.
These links could damage the computer, or let someone else see your private information.
Unknown senders
A spam message will usually be easy to spot. It'll be from an email address you don't recognise and might have a subject that doesn't make sense.
You can get spam messages from all sorts of people. Sometimes a spam message might say it's from your bank or building society, but that doesn't mean that it definitely is. If you're in doubt about who a message is from, it's best not to reply.
The Spam folder
Your email provider will recognise most spam messages and so they will automatically go into your ‘Spam' or ‘Junk' folder, but it's a good idea to delete spam messages if they appear in your inbox.
The Bin icon
You can select messages without opening them by ticking the box next to them. When you've done this, you'll need to click the bin icon to delete the message.
The Trash folder
When you've deleted a message, it'll go to a deleted messages folder, usually called ‘Trash' or ‘Bin'.
Your deleted message will usually stay in the bin for 30 days before it's automatically deleted. This is so that you can get the message back from this folder if you've deleted it by accident.
Emptying the trash
You can clear all of your deleted messages out of your bin by ‘emptying' it.
With some email providers, you'll have to click on the folder first, but Salma is using Yahoo and is able to press the bin icon to delete her messages forever without going into the folder.
Identifying spam messages
After a few weeks, Salma has received several messages.
Below are three new messages in her inbox. There are two messages that could be spam.
Select the messages you think are spam.
From: Apple support Subject: Dear customer Your invoice is attached
Click to flip
Correct: this is spam
From: Top Money Tips Subject: Save $$$ with no effort
Click to flip
Correct: this is spam
From: Maryam Subject: Hello again
Click to flip
This is a real email from a friend
Unwanted messages
Sometimes you might receive emails that aren't spam, but are still annoying!
Salma has recently used her email address to do some online shopping, and is getting a lot of emails from the supermarket that she doesn't want.
Leaving a mailing list
Salma can stop receiving emails from the supermarket by choosing to leave their mailing list.
Unsubscribing
Salma opens the message, scrolls down to the bottom and sees the option to ‘unsubscribe'. She'll have to click this to leave the supermarket's mailing list.
On some email providers, the ‘unsubscribe' option might be at the top of the message.
Links and attachments
Email attachments
Sometimes you might get messages that ask you to click on a link or open an attachment. An attachment is a file that has been sent with an email message.
Be careful. Some links might be harmful, so it's important to be able to recognise which ones to avoid.
'S' for 'secure'
A link will usually start with either ‘http' or ‘https'. The ‘s' stands for secure - any website address that starts with ‘https' is usually OK to visit.
Links to websites
Sometimes a link might take you to a different website to the one it says it's going to.
If you're using a desktop or laptop you can check which website a link is really taking you to by hovering the cursor over the link without clicking it to see the website address.
People you know
If you're new to email, it's best not to open any emails from anyone you don't know, until you get used to how email works.
As long as you're sensible, and aware of ‘Spam' messages, email is a really safe and secure way to keep in touch.
Congratulations!
Well done, you have reached the end of this activity about safety and security.
You've seen how Salma can make sure she's using email safely and securely. Don't worry, email is very safe to use on the whole, but it's important to keep these things in mind so that you don't get caught out.