Practical online security info - especially important for Gmail users

[MBAustin]

Saw this in today's issue of TidBits (an excellent free weekly newsletter primarily for Mac/ios device users). The story is a good read and the suggestions (skip to page 4 if you want to get right to the actions) are very pragmatic. One of the best articles on this subject I've seen.

**What It’s Like to Experience Email Account Hijacking** -- In the
November issue of The Atlantic, James Fallows shares the story of
how his wife’s Gmail account was hijacked and what they went
through to recover years of stored messages. It’s a compelling
tale that will hopefully bring home the need for secure passwords
and offline backups of cloud-based data.

Hacked! - Magazine - The Atlantic

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[donheff]

Doesn't seem all that practical to back up GMail archives somewhere else. Maybe CC yourself at another account with emails that you really need to save? How many are that important anyway? Keeping primary copies of critical information in Google Docs does seem like another issue. Might make more sense to use Google Docs as a secondary. By the way, this isn't "especially important for Gmail users." This can happen with any provider.

 

[Lsbcal]

After glancing at this I realized that my Yahoo contacts list would be a good thing to backup. Most of my saved Email is non-critical.

Just opened a Word document and used the snipping tool (in Windows 7) to cut and paste into the Word doc. Then saved that doc in a "backup" folder which includes some other key items like Outlook Calendar backups.

 

[Onward]

Interesting, well-written article. Thanks.

 

[TromboneAl]

Doesn't seem all that practical to back up GMail archives somewhere else. Maybe CC yourself at another account with emails that you really need to save? How many are that important anyway? Keeping primary copies of critical information in Google Docs does seem like another issue. Might make more sense to use Google Docs as a secondary. By the way, this isn't "especially important for Gmail users." This can happen with any provider.

There's a free, easy way to back up your gmail stuff. I'll post a link when I'm at my laptop. But you use an app called imapsize and leave it running overnight. All my email is backed up on a single DVD.

 

[TromboneAl]

OK, I'm at a real computer now.

Check this out:

How to Backup (sic) Gmail

I have 3040 MB (over 3 gigs) in my Gmail account. I find that old emails can be very important (What was that password? When did I buy that? How much did I pay? Where's that photo?).

That app is a little crude, but it works. I ran it overnight and into the next day.

 

[Nodak]

I avoid cloud based storage of anything that is important to me. I use external hard drives or DVDs

 

[Rustward]

I avoid cloud based storage of anything that is important to me. I use external hard drives or DVDs

Do you have offsite copies that are current enough to be of use should you need them?

 

[Nodak]

Do you have offsite copies that are current enough to be of use should you need them?

Yes, I store a backup DVD off site. It only needs to be updated about once a year, usually right after I finish my taxes.

 

[Major Tom]

If you check your Gmail account through an e-mail client such as Outlook or Outlook Express, it will store all your e-mails on your HD.

I have all data (including e-mails) on my computer stored on 2 sets of mirrored hard drives (Raid 1) On top of that, I have back-up drives stored in a separate physical location. Once every few weeks, I take out one set of hard drives, plug the extra set in and let the computer rebuild the drives. The new "extra" set gets stored separately until it's time for the next back-up.

If one of the hard drives in my computer fails I lose no data at all, due to the mirrored RAID array. If someone steals the whole computer, or it gets otherwise destroyed, then I still have a recent set of data in the extra set of disks, so only lose stuff that has been added or changed since the last back-up.

EDIT - Oh, silly me. I should have read the article before posting this comment. Don't I feel silly. My "solution" only prevents you from losing your e-mails, and doesn't protect you from all that can happen if your e-mail account is hacked. My apologies. Next time an article is posted, I'll read it before commenting.

 

[Ed_The_Gypsy]

Is there a way to back up Yahoo e-mail accounts?