How To Secure Email Account From Hackers

Not making an active effort to protect your emails can result in an open door that's too tempting for hackers to resist. Thankfully, switching on these settings will help to keep them out—and they don't take long to get up and running.

2FA Via an Authenticator App

One of the simplest methods to mitigate the risk of your emails being compromised is to activate two-factor authentication (2FA). Even if a hacker successfully guesses your password, they will still need to confirm their identity through an additional method that they likely do not have access to. This is considered one of the most effective forms of multi-factor authentication (MFA).

There are various ways to enable 2FA, but I suggest utilizing an authenticator application. For instance, I personally use Google Authenticator. Numerous password management tools offer their own versions, and the distinctions among them are minimal.

After you have enabled 2FA through an authenticator app, you will generally encounter a constantly changing code that you must input when requested. In certain situations, you may also have the option to scan a QR code instead.
 

Third-Party Tool Access Removal 

 Logging into accounts using your email address is generally more convenient than establishing a distinct profile and generating a new password. However, although it facilitates easy access to services you regularly utilize, granting third-party applications permission to access your email may expose you to potential risks.

While numerous tools that you engage with via your email possess strong security measures, this is not universally applicable. It is essential to exercise caution when registering for new tools that have not been thoroughly evaluated over extended durations. Should the application or service eventually become outdated and cease to receive updates, vulnerabilities may be exploited by hackers.

 

Only keep access to the third-party tools you use frequently. You can go to your email account's settings and remove access to apps you no longer want to access; make a habit of doing this at least once every few weeks. Take the same precautions when signing in with your social logins, too.

Using Your Email's External Image-Loading Feature 

 While generally acceptable, external images can occasionally pose a security risk and serve as a potential hacking vulnerability. For instance, cybercriminals may embed malicious code or insert tracking pixels into the spam emails they distribute. Unless you have complete trust in the sender (or it is clearly from a verified corporate account), it is advisable to exercise caution when viewing external images in your email.

Utilizing your email client's image loading feature can mitigate the risk of hacking by safeguarding your data. For example, Outlook offers a function that enables you to do just that.

 1   Navigate to Settings > Privacy and data > External images.
2    Select the option next to Always use the Outlook service to load images.

Not using this tool is one of the many email security mistakes you can make. If your email client doesn't have such a feature, you may want to consider switching to a different service.
 

Strict Incoming Email Handling 

 Your email account is, unfortunately, the starting point for many scams. You're likely to receive more scam and phishing emails than real correspondence, which means you need your email account and service to have a great spam filter. While many email clients are good at filtering out spam and phishing emails, they won't catch everything, and you shouldn't trust them to do so, either.

Instead, you should use them as an initial filter, but then take matters into your own hands. Most email clients allow you to individually choose who is allowed to send you emails, using a whitelist approach.

Since you have full control over who can send you emails, you're less likely to fall victim to hacking. Moreover, you'll protect yourself from other email security threats, such as phishing.

Blocking Attachments

While blocking external images will help reduce your chances of getting hacked, you may want to take things a step further and block attachments from senders you don't trust. With some tools, you can block anyone who isn't on your safelist from sending you images, documents, and other content that could pose a security threat.

Besides adding safe senders, you can allow attachments from people in your contacts or on your list of trusted domains. Moreover, you have the option to add safe mailing lists. You don't need all of these features enabled, but having at least one of them switched on is a good idea.

Strong Passwords 

 Even with every form of online authentication, having strong passwords is still one of the best ways to prevent your email account from being hacked. These days, it's easier than ever; password-generation apps, such as Apple Passwords, will create a hard-to-guess password for you in less than a minute.

All of your email account passwords should be original. Even if your password is hard to guess on one account, it shouldn't be reused. If your data is ever compromised, you'll needlessly increase the threat of hacking against multiple accounts.

You can also switch to passkeys, which—besides protecting from hackers—can also act as a phishing-resistant password alternative.

Protecting your email account from hackers doesn't need to be strenuous. With a few simple steps, you can keep your information safe and continue getting the benefits of email with fewer of the downsides. Adding multiple layers of security will reduce the chances of something bad happening even more.