Hackers Mine Personal Info from Email

Protecting personal and business information

Are you doing enough to protect your email?  For scam artists, your email account is a treasure trove of information that can be mined for a variety of purposes.

Recently a hacker claimed to have taken photos, addresses and other personal information from family members of Presidents George W. Bush and George H.W. Bush.

Scam artists look for email accounts because they often have financial, banking and investments information that can be used to steal from your online accounts.

"It's kind of putting all your eggs in one basket," said Stephen Cobb with eset Security. "That is what is making it attractive to bad guys who are always thinking of new ways to exploit that information."

Tanya McAnear is store owner of Bad Badge & Company is South Park. She says she could not live without her email account. But she worries what could happen if a hacker got into her account.

"Personal information is not safe anymore," said McAnear.

Stephen Cobb suggests that people change their password often and, if possible, create a second tier of password protection to their email accounts.

"I think we will see more of this use of additional means of verifying who you are," said Cobb.

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