Privacy Strategy: Alias Email Addresses
Saying email is one of the internet's original protocols is an understatement. While it's seen minor improvements, email has been around in some form since the 1960s. For the most part, it's insecure and about as private as a postcard. Yet, it's still essential for almost everything online. It's how you get newsletters, updates, and receipts. It's also used for meeting invitations, tickets for travel or events, or even service notifications like One Time Passwords (OTP). Plus, it's the most common User ID for websites and services.
That's where the problem starts.
Red Flags in Your Inbox
1. Unexpected Spam After Signing Up
Have you ever signed up for a new website, newsletter, or online service, only to have your inbox suddenly flooded with unsolicited emails from companies you've never heard of? That's a huge red flag. It means:
- The service you signed up for likely shared or sold your email address.
- Your email address might have been added to marketing lists without your consent.
2. Can't Figure Out Where Spam Comes From
When you get a spam email, do you struggle to pinpoint how that sender got your address? If your primary email is used everywhere, it's nearly impossible to find the culprit.
3. Unsubscribing Doesn't Work
You dutifully click "unsubscribe" on unwanted emails, but they just keep coming, or worse, you get more spam. This shows your email address is probably on many different lists, and unsubscribing from one doesn't stop others.
The Core Problem
Having a single email address is convenient. It can be your name, like "John.Doe@example.com", or something that expresses your personality, like "No1NarutoFan@example.com." It's easy to remember and share. But that's exactly where the problem begins: it's easy to share. And marketers and data brokers love to share. You use your beloved address on one website, and next thing you know, everyone has it.
Since your email is often your User ID for a service, it gives hackers 50% of the puzzle they need to attack your accounts. We've seen cases where hackers worldwide tried for years to break into a Microsoft ID account because the email was part of a data breach. While the password they had didn't work, it was a starting point for their attack.
Sites like Have I Been Pwned can show you if your email has been compromised in past data leaks. Once your email is out there, you're at risk of spam, phishing scams, and account takeovers.
So, how do we fix the issue of everyone having your email address, which is also your User ID?
A Smarter Approach
This is where services like SimpleLogin or addy.io come in handy. These services let you create unique email addresses that forward to your regular inbox. You can create a distinct email address for every single service you use. Even better, password managers like Bitwarden and Proton Pass are either integrated or can be integrated with these email alias services. This means you can create a unique email at the same time you're setting up new account credentials in your password manager.
So, why use a unique email alias for each account?
Nothing but Benefits
There are four main reasons to use a unique email alias for each account:
Enhanced Privacy Each alias acts like a separate online identity. Marketers find it much harder to track your behavior across websites because each site has its own unique email. Your digital footprint becomes less traceable.
Spam Management If you start getting spam or aggressive marketing emails from a particular alias, you'll know exactly which service is to blame. You can then disable that alias, stopping further unwanted emails.
Account Safety If one alias gets compromised, the damage is contained. Since each service uses a different email address, hackers can't easily use one breach to attack all your accounts.
Phishing Detection This helps you quickly spot suspicious emails that don't match your expected sender. For example, if emails from your bank normally go to "mybank.alias@example.com" but you get one sent to "John.Doe@example.com", you know something's off.
Final Thoughts
While this isn't a new privacy protection method, it's never been easier with the tools available today. They help you preserve your privacy and security in a way that can't be matched. Consider using this approach to regain control of your inbox.
Remember, we may not have anything to hide, but everything to protect.
