Email Account Ideas

13 years ago

We've had a couple of threads about having a second email account for, say, shopping and many of us already have at least one "catch all" email account but I stumbled upon an interesting idea. Instead of using one email address, use multiple email addresses, each tied to a specific account. So for example you might have email addresses like johnsmith.amex@gmail.com and johnsmith.citicards@gmail.com.

When the inevitable occurs, like the recent Epsilon security breach, it's pretty easy to mitigate any damage. Create a new account, update your profile with your financial institution, and delete the old account.

Should someone hack into one of those email accounts, any information is compartmentalized. The hacker only has information about one account and nothing else.

Just thought I would pass it on...

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Comments (10)

owbist
13 years ago
A good post Mike, wise words indeed.
DA_Mccoy
13 years ago
Ditto Mike.

I have been contiually promoting multiple dedicated e-mail accounts as far back as Noah and the flood. For the reasons you cite, and for a few others which I have posted many times. Whether they are similar in user name or completely different it is a sound idea.

DA
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You absolutely can do it and it is very simple it will not affect your other email at all you will just have to sign in to each one on their respective pages to access the email on that account. So go ahead and give it a try, you can use gmail, hotmail, yahoo, or any of the other free webmail. It is best if you do not import your contacts into that email account especially if you are going to use it for facebook so that it can not have access to all of your contacts to send out invites to. My advice is to find out all the settings for creating a good secure private facebook account and keep it updated so that you have no surprises. Things change frequently on facebook! Here you can find lots of good info on that subject. how to setup a secure facebook account - Google Search edit to say It is not a good idea to use the same user name and password for this new email account, you want it to have no connections to your others and be sure you use a good secure password that is not composed of real words but of random letters and numbers, possibly initials and birth dates or partial address numbers. Password Generator & Checker : How Secure is my Password This post was edited by ravencajun on Mon, Jul 8, 13 at 18:20
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ravencajun Zone 8b TX
13 years ago
Yep I read that one at Kim Komando too
Create an email alias

nice that hotmail and gmail offer the use of alias. Most people have not noticed the little gear beside the inbox in hotmail which offers alias options.
grandms
13 years ago
Excellent suggestions. Thanks, Mike. I like the idea of a separate e-mail address for each cc and/or bank account. I think I may set mine up that way.
DA_Mccoy
13 years ago
RC,

Great minds think alike. That's the link I tagged on another e-mail address question giving you credit of taking me to the original page which displayed the extended hyperlink.

Mike,

As I reported, I support multiple targeted addresses. However, I've been pondering this idea of including the credit card name in the address. I haven't made up my mind yet. I am dragging my feet as I wonder how sound the idea is of releasing a valid e-mail address with an attached named account into the wild thus exposing both to hijacking or mining. Gotta think more about this one.

DA
vala55
13 years ago
I wondered if the the user was suppose to use his real name. I don't use my name just part of it with some numbers that make sense to only me.
ravencajun Zone 8b TX
13 years ago
it is a hot topic right now with the Epilison breach, it was also covered by TechBite with a very good article on several aspects.
A Nifty Spam Tracking Trick
From the article Quote
"A Nifty Spam Tracking Trick

Start using e-mail addresses that are specially -- and easily -- coded. Create a new one for everything you sign up for, things like newsletters, banking, coupon sites -- whatever. If you receive an e-mail from that address with anything other than what you asked for, you'll know the company's been breached -- or is selling your e-mail address to spammers.

The technique is called plus addressing and the trick is to create an e-mail with an extra character between the real e-mail address and the @ sign and domain. Don't fret, it's easy to understand.

Many ISPs let you do plus addressing, but I'll use Gmail to describe how it works.

Let's say your Gmail address is computeruser@gmail.com (and for the reasons I'll explain in a minute, you ought to use Gmail). When you sign up for a newsletter, say, SuperUser, use computeruser+superuser@gmail.com. Banking with Chase? computeruser+chase@gmail.com. Got the idea?"
DA_Mccoy
13 years ago
Be advised just in case you stumble on to one: some e-mail providers, do not allow ancillary characters; alphabetic, numeric, caps and lower case only. Similar to some sites with passwords. It's easy to work around. One just has to be a little more creative.

V,

I have two accounts with my real name in variation; last/first and first/last. One is solely for my hospitalization company as I don't want anything trite interfering with process and communication. We all know they can be enough of a headache. The other is solely for an investment account which is totally observant and not on-line productive. Other than those two no real names.

Still pondering the other issue.

DA
samtom_gw
12 years ago
A lot of good information about our e-mail. I use several different e-mails for different purposes like being suggested. These are all set for domains that I own, for example: netbiz@mydomain.com,samtom@domain2.com, etc. Then, I consolidate by forwarding all of them to a g-mail account so I can read all in one spot.
mike_kaiser_gw
Original Author
12 years ago
However, I've been pondering this idea of including the credit card name in the address.

I was just passing along an idea I found interesting. Obviously you're entitled to do whatever you'd like, although I suspect the idea of using the financial institution name in the address is simply a way to help keep things organized. With things like Epsilon and now Sony's problems it seems the least of anyone's concern is the name one chooses for an email account.

As I said before there's a fine line between prudence and paranoia. One could generate a completely random name to the character limit of the service provider (coupled with a randomly generated hard password to the character limit of the service provider). Of course, those might best be recorded on a piece of flash paper; keeping a strike anywhere match nearby. ;-)

Email Account Ideas

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