The commercial internet was only about 25 years old in 2018 at the time of writing this book. The use of the internet for everything we do, including ecommerce, is even younger. We all have been pioneers in using this technology. But the pioneering days must come to an end.
Today it is hard to imagine an easy, smooth functioning life at work or play without the internet. It has become an integral part of our lives. Now it’s time to take it much more seriously than we have in the past.
Seriously? There has been no end to the corporate and personal disasters resulting from malicious hacking in general and more specifically from malicious hacking of email. From Sony corporate executives to the Democratic National Committee, email hacking has been a very serious problem. Alas, such professional, malicious hacking doesn’t apply to us little guys. Or does it? If you think it doesn’t apply to you, consider the various ways you do business online such as your bank account, your brokerage account, your retirement account, your healthcare account, your credit card account, and so forth. If any of these are hacked, it could be a disaster for you.
Your email account is an integral part of all your online accounts. An account is typically identified by your email address, and all communications regarding your account are sent to your email address. Should your email be hijacked, intercepted, or mined out of a database, a hacker may be able to use your email to hack all of your accounts. It’s therefore absolutely essential that you do whatever you can to protect your email and make certain it’s secure. That’s what this book is about.
We have inadvertently and almost unconsciously entered a new internet age. It is an age in which not only do we rely upon the internet ourselves, but soon we will be connecting our refrigerators, automobiles, and pets to the internet. It is also an age in which professional malicious hackers will make more billions of dollars than they have in the past in large extent because most people are not security conscious.
The essential question is, can you be secure on the internet? I believe the answer is yes. If you employ advanced security precautions, you can defeat the hackers. They will find easier prey elsewhere.
This book was not written to provide you with a broad overall approach to security on the internet. That’s a pretty big topic. The book simply covers how you can make your email secure. But, by making your email secure, you will have taken a giant step forward in making all your other internet activities secure. Without making your email secure as the first big step, you cannot keep the rest of your internet activities hackproof.
With the above in mind, I hope you enjoy reading this book. Moreover, I hope that you use the ideas set forth in this book to make your online life more secure than is been in the past. One thing you can count on. The future is going to be more dangerous.
Joseph T. Sinclair
February 2018
