{"id":11243,"date":"2025-06-24T17:56:23","date_gmt":"2025-06-24T17:56:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/colemandev.directivesites.com\/please-please-please-don-t-include-sensitive-info-in-your-emails\/"},"modified":"2025-06-24T19:43:23","modified_gmt":"2025-06-24T19:43:23","slug":"please-please-please-don-t-include-sensitive-info-in-your-emails","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/colemantechnologies.directivesites.com\/?p=11243","title":{"rendered":"Please, Please, PLEASE Don\u2019t Include Sensitive Info in Your Emails"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n
\n
\n\"Please,
\n<\/a>\n<\/div>\n

Email is a great communication tool. However, certain things are just unsafe to communicate via email.<\/p>\n

Let\u2019s go through a list of such things. Better safe than sorry, after all.<\/p>\n

What Should Never Appear in Your Inbox?<\/h2>\n

Passwords\/Other Authentication Credentials<\/h3>\n

The advice is simple enough: don\u2019t share credentials you use through email. While email is relatively<\/em> safe, and you can delete messages on your end, you cannot ensure that the message is appropriately deleted and the recipient adequately protects the data. Plus, emails can be hijacked if either account is compromised, and you won\u2019t know if that is the case until it\u2019s too late.<\/p>\n

Payment Card Numbers and Financial Details<\/h3>\n

Similarly, you should avoid sharing any payment or card details via email. It doesn\u2019t matter how diligent you are about keeping your email cleansed of sensitive information\u2026 it is all about how diligent the person on the other end is. Unfortunately, you can\u2019t assume they\u2019ll respect your data security as they should.<\/p>\n

Documents Under Attorney-Client Privilege<\/h3>\n

Are you starting to see a pattern here?<\/p>\n

Privileged information should never be sent via email simply because\u2014again\u2014you have no way of guaranteeing that someone without privilege will not view it. These kinds of documents need to be handled much more carefully than to send them through any email platform.<\/p>\n

Social Security Numbers<\/h3>\n

Considering how much official business a Social Security number is used for, it has been drummed into most of our heads how important it is to keep it secure. However, many people won\u2019t think twice before sending this critical number in an email\u2026 a communication method that isn\u2019t secure enough for all the same reasons we\u2019ve already discussed. Unfortunately, this is too often overlooked, and an email\u2019s security is overestimated.<\/p>\n

Financial Account Numbers<\/h3>\n

This is extremely similar to the payment card situation we already addressed, except that access to a financial account would allow someone to take the funds and disappear with their ill-gotten prize. Therefore, sharing any financial information\u2014such as account numbers\u2014via email is also a bad idea, and any messages that contain it should be encrypted first.<\/p>\n

Protected Health Information<\/h3>\n

Protected health information is extremely personal and private, not just because it reveals an individual\u2019s most intimate details but also because these details can be used to a cybercriminal\u2019s advantage in numerous ways\u2026 not to mention interfere with medical care.<\/p>\n

State ID Numbers<\/h3>\n

This one\u2014a state employer ID or state EIN\u2014is used to help identify businesses for tax purposes and other governmental interactions. As such, it is extremely important for your business to protect, as scammers could use it to pose as a business representative and cause no shortage of headaches and confusion. This number could allow a cybercriminal to steal any tax returns due to your business, order goods as your business and stick you with the bill, or apply for unwanted loans that you would be on the hook for.<\/p>\n

Long story short: don\u2019t send these numbers in an email.<\/p>\n

Driver\u2019s License Numbers<\/h3>\n

If a cybercriminal were to gain possession of a driver’s license number via one of your emails, they would have a key factor in perpetrating various crimes, posing as whoever\u2019s license they had a number for. As such, a scammer could use this stolen identity to do a variety of things, from opening new financial accounts to filing for assorted benefits to claiming prescription medications to running more scams in your name (and everything in between). Again, the risks are not worth it.<\/p>\n

Passport Numbers<\/h3>\n

Much like the aforementioned driver\u2019s license number, a passport number in the wrong hands can accomplish many of the same scams and criminal activities. Lines of credit, government benefits, and more can all be claimed using a passport number as identification. As such, it is important to protect this number, and sharing or storing it in an email is not the way to do so.<\/p>\n

It is Important to Be Vigilant When Composing an Email<\/h2>\n

Don\u2019t let a fundamental mode of business communication be what makes your business vulnerable. Coleman Technologies can help you keep your business email secure. Give us a call at (604) 513-9428 to learn more.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Email is a great communication tool. However, certain things are just unsafe to communicate via email. Let\u2019s go through a list of such things. Better safe than sorry, after all. What Should Never Appear in Your Inbox? Passwords\/Other Authentication Credentials The advice is simple enough: don\u2019t share credentials you use through email. While email is […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":16,"featured_media":10708,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"footnotes":""},"categories":[34,129,31],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-11243","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-data","category-email","category-security"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/colemantechnologies.directivesites.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11243","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/colemantechnologies.directivesites.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/colemantechnologies.directivesites.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/colemantechnologies.directivesites.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/16"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/colemantechnologies.directivesites.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=11243"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/colemantechnologies.directivesites.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11243\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":12230,"href":"https:\/\/colemantechnologies.directivesites.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11243\/revisions\/12230"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/colemantechnologies.directivesites.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/10708"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/colemantechnologies.directivesites.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=11243"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/colemantechnologies.directivesites.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=11243"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/colemantechnologies.directivesites.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=11243"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}