In the world of today, personal data protection is paramount, so much so. Hackers are constantly searching for ways to steal sensitive information with the ever increasing wave of cyber threats, phishing attacks and data breaches. Temporary email is one of the effective ways to keep your online privacy safe. If you use a temporary email address when signing up to a new online service, downloading an app, or just browsing the web, you've saved yourself countless security headaches.
So let’s see how does a temporary email actually protect you from the hackers? In this article we will take you through how it works, benefits of using it and why you should use it to secure data from cyber criminals.
What is Temporary Email?
Temporary email or disposable email or trash mail is a short term email address which is used to receive emails for a specific limit. The temporary email address serves the purpose for which it was created, and once it has served its purpose, the temporary email address expires and any data linked to the temporary email address usually disappear as well. Unlike your standard email address, a temporary email has no connection to your personal information and can be discarded once you’re done using it.
A temporary email is an email that is just temporary, so your main email address isn’t out there to be exploited by spam and hackers.
Cybersecurity Threats have been rising
The digital landscape, in recent years, has become even more hostile. Personal information is being exploited with more sophisticated methods such as phishing of malware and data breaches. For instance:
Phishing attacks: These are cases when hackers are taking the shape of legitimate companies or services to deceive anybody into offering personal data: usernames, passwords and credit card numbers. Data breaches: Hackers ferret out millions of users by stealing sensitive data from databases, which they then sell on the dark web.
Malware attacks: It can also infect your devices and monitor your actions recording keystrokes and stealing passwords. With these increasing threats, there’s no need to protect your data. A temporary email is where this comes in very handy.
Temporary Email Protects Your Data
It prevents the Spam and Unwanted Emails;. Using a temporary email address means you’re not going to get bombarded with unwanted promotions and offers in your inbox. As the temporary email expires after a certain period of time, you protect yourself from future spam messages about the sign up.
1. Signing Up for Online Services with Your Real Email Compromises Your Email Address — and leaving your real email address in the process puts it at risk of various attacks, particularly when you sign up for something that you’re not trusting. For example, if a company’s website gets hacked or offers your email address to third parties, that leaves your primary inbox a vulnerability for cybercriminals. A temporary email address limits the exposure to potential breaching, protecting your personal emails from hackers just trying to get in.
2. It protects against phishing attacks — phishing attacks are a common way in which hackers steal sensitive data. When you use a disposable email address for online transactions or sign ups, that makes it less likely you’ll become part of a phishing scam. Because your temporary email has nothing to do with any of your other accounts, hackers are not as likely to use your temporary email to take advantage of them through phishing. If your temporary email is compromised though, it won’t affect your main email account or any other sensitive data.
3. Giving Sensitive Transactions Enhanced Privacy — If you’re doing a sensitive transaction (signing up for an online service, buying a product), using a temporary email address gives a little extra privacy. Using a temporary email means that the service you are using can’t claim your primary email address so has no reason to contact it, reducing the risk of getting spammed with marketing or, worse, of future breaches.
4. Setting up a temporary email is quick and easy. It's easy to get into the habit of signing up for too many services and receiving emails from them both planned and via pranks. Luckily many services now offer a way to generate a disposable email address in mere clicks. No need to go through the chore of setting up a new email account with your personal info. For online security junkies who are unwilling to give out their real email address, this is a great convenience, and it is also a great addition to email security.
Using Temporary Email to Protect Your Data: Best Practices
While using a temporary email address can significantly enhance your online privacy, there are a few best practices you should keep in mind:
Don’t use temporary emails for important accounts: Always use a real, secure email address for critical accounts such as your bank, personal social media or email accounts.
Monitor the expiration: Keep record of how long the temporary email is still valid. When it is not active anymore, any communication sent to it is lost.
Use it for one-time registrations: When you don’t want to connect your personal email address to a site then temporary emails are the best option for one time signups, free trials or services.
Choose a reliable service: Not all temporary email services are equal though. Make sure that whatever one you choose makes sure that your temporary email addresses are safe from being hacked.
Most popular Temporary Email Services
A number of temporary email services are available online. Some of the most popular ones include:
10 Minute Mail: An email address lasting 10 minutes is what you get from this service — perfect for one quick, one time use.
Guerrilla Mail: It offers a temporary inbox without any registration for quick and anonymous option.
Mailinator: Temporary email service to let you browse your temporary inbox without registration.
1SecMail: A disposable email with a quick expiry time that keeps your data secure.
All of these services share the goal of making sure your primary email address isn’t hacked or spammed, but they do so with varying features.
Temporary Email and Cybersecurity: The Future
With the development of digital landscape, online privacy and security will become increasingly necessary. As the number of data breaches and people’s concerns about their privacy continue to grow, disposable email services are going to be extremely important to protecting user information. We do think the future of temporary email — or, more accurately, the future of privacy — is going to be much more secure, easy to use and integrate with other privacy tools.
Conclusion
When staying safe from online threats is becoming more and more demanding, there’s still an easy way to avoid the ones that involve your personal data: a temporary mail. Temporary emails ensure a secondary layer of security by stopping spam, shielding your primary email address, and giving you a little more privacy when making purchases online. Since they shouldn't be used on primary accounts, they are an excellent way to lower your chance of being cyber attacked.
If you integrate temporary email with your online security, you will not experience any fear while resorting to the digital world and save your important data from hackers.
