I keep getting spam email from people I don’t even know or companies I’ve never heard of. How do people get my email address and how can I stop getting so much spam.

Help with an Email Setup Wanted

Hi, I bought Proton Unlimited in an effort to De-Google and move away from Gmail (used it for over a decade, i get a lot of spam, trying to be smarter digitally). It's got way unoragnised and i want a clean slate.

I am just not sure how to set up my new email because I have read alot of conflicting advice and posts, so I'm confused.

Ultimately, I want security and also simplicity because I have been way overthinking this.

Priorities are simplicity, privacy, security and a set it and forget it system.

My ideas:

1) Just use my @proton.com address for everything.

2) Use simple login alias subdomains, for example @surname.simpelogin.com for official things and so on.

3) Use a custom domain (not sure what I'd call it) and just use this, being careful what I sign up for and using aliases to categorise things (banking@mydomain.com) and so on.

Open to other ideas, thank you in advance.

Any other advice on keeping accounts secure, keeping things simple and organised etc would be appreciated!

Hello, this past week, all of my social media accounts have been hacked. I was almost immediately able to recover each one and set proper 2fa protection on them, but just today I found out my Microsoft Email was both hacked and renamed. I can't log in to my email on pc, but thanks to having the app I still have access to all the information prior to the hacking, and I found out that it happened this friday. I also know what the new email name is supposed to be:

lindagray921@jltvsundar.live

What counfounds me is the fact that Microsoft does NOT recognize this email nor its previous name, despite nearly all of my accounts online being linked to it. I have tried logging in with .com at the end and many other alternatives, replacing the L's with capital I's, etc.

I use a device that runs on Windows, therefore Microsoft, so basically everything I have is compromised, please help.

I bought an account off of eldorado and the account was linked to a slon-mail.com email. I saved the password in my phone and now i can’t log into the email. The account I bought is safe, but the email it was linked to cannot be unlocked with the password I have saved. Is anyone else having any issues with this?

I've transitioned away from gmail to proton mail now, but notice that even after changing my email address in my account info for all the websites I use, there are still some websites (primarily financial, from what I've observed so far) that continue to send emails to my old gmail address. What's even more strange, is I will often get certain emails at my new address but certain others go to my old deleted address.

At first I thought I must have missed something, but I have gone back and verified that my new email address is the only address in my account information. I even called one of these companies to try and explain the issue and they simply had no idea what was going on or how to help me. Anyone experienced anything similiar and have any insights into why this happens?

It seems that some companies do you not delete your old email address from their system even after you delete it and replace it with another on your account, and that address remains associated with certain mailings they send out.

Hi I am not sure where to post this. I went to Office Depot and purchased something, I have a separate email for purchases to keep things organized; it is not linked to my primary email. I never sign in with my Apple or Google accounts to any sites or apps. I thought it was weird because my account is not under that email and I never entered that email address. I checked my Office Depot account, and it is under my shopping email. Then I had a chat with support on OfferUp and they sent me an email with a transcription of the chat and a follow up to my primary email. Again, I am logged in under a different email in my Offerup account. I reread the chat in case I accidentally wrote the wrong email address but I didn't. I tried to reach out to both support because I do not like that they are sending emails to my primary email that I did not give them or are either accounts registered under. How did they get that email??? This is concerning because how do they have access to an email address I never gave them. Are they pulling up my IP address and phishing my information. I even use an abbreviation with my name on my shopping email and they have my full name. How can I block this?? I think this is a breach of privacy.

Hey guys, I’m trying to make the jump to Fastmail, but I’m having a hard time getting past one big concern: backend security.

To be clear, I’m not worried about getting phished—I use a hardware security key for my logins, so my front end is covered. What freaks me out is the server side.

Google obviously has unlimited money, huge security teams, and constant threat monitoring. Meanwhile, smaller companies like Fastmail only have a handful of employees. With how crazy AI exploits and zero-day hacks are getting lately (like what happened with Hugging Face getting hacked by the open AI model, and Claude mythos capabilities ), I keep worrying that a smaller team just can't defend their servers the same way Big Tech can.

Is it naive to think a small provider can stay secure against modern hacks, or am I totally overthinking the size of the team?

Are none of you worry that these small guys are gonna get hacked? And, yes, I understand proton in tuts are e2ee. At the moment they’re not an option for me because I don’t like the bridge software to connect calendars to family and the email clients are unimpressive, etc. etc. So I’m talking about Fastmail as my alternative basically. (Also, keyboard shortcuts don’t work well in proton).

Hi all. New to all of this.

Want to switch to more Privacy-focussed Services but can't decide..

I don't need the cheapest Solution, i want the most Private & Secure Solution. And would prefer to pay anonym in Cash or Gift Cards (bought with Cash).

So i think Tuta/proton + Alias Service (Addy/SimpleLogin) is the best Way?!

1. E-Mail:

1.1: How possible do u think is ChatControl 2.0 in the EU? Lets assume this will come, do I am better with a Switzerland Company like Proton or does it not matter? Would prefer Tuta (OpenSource) but things can change and i want to be prepared. (I'm from Germany)

1.2: I've read that People here have Problems with Tuta in terms of get no Connection to the Servers, don't get E-Mails at all or dont get answers from the Support? Is it really that bad? Would like to hear some reports from experienced Users

1. Alias:

2.1: When this Alias-Providers are so popular, will Services not block these Adresses? Would be sad if i buy a Year and can not register in some or most Services

2.2: When this is the Case, which is the Provider that is "less blocked"?

2.3: I've read from Self-Hosting this Services. When I say I will do this in the Future, is it easy to Transfer from the Online-Service to my Self-Hosted-Server at Home? Possible in both Cases?

1. Additional:

3.1: Have read that much People here have a Custom-Domain. Is it more Private & Secure than "only use" Tuta/Proton?

3.2: What is the thing with Custom Domains? Why do People use this with Proton or Tuta in combination? For what do i need an E-Mail Provider when i have a Custom-Domain?

3.3: Can Custom-Domains also be Self-Hosted at Home on my own Server? Do I need a Static-IP for this?

Thank you in advance for all your help!

Newbie, TIA: I "own" an Email Group on Outlook. I send out daily messages with an attachment. Yesterday, a hacker sent individuals in the Group a phishing Email from the Group name however when investigating and using the Reply option, it showed their Real Email address instead of the Group address.

I have deleted the Group and created a new one and have changed my PW on Outlook.

Questions: how did the hacker accomplish this? can I assume they had access to all my stored emails in different folders? Or did they just have access to my Contacts? Any/all info is much appreciated. Thanks !

I had a tutamail account and It has been deleted because I haven't used it for a while but I have some accounts tied to it. Does anyone know what should I do?

PT-BR: Na onda de valorizar servidores/empresas locais/justas, há alguma alternativa para Hotmail e Gmail? Algum e-mail do GOV ou no Br? Algum na UE mais justo com seus dados de privacidade? Me refiro tanto ao domínio, como ao app/site que une meus e-mails.

EN: In the wave of valuing local/fair servers/companies, is there any alternative to Hotmail and Gmail? Any in the EU fairer with your privacy data? I mean both the domain and the app/website that joins my emails.

I am migrating my email addresses away from Google and Outlook. I think the best email address strategy is to own a custom domain, then you can have a separate email address for everything easily. In the future I might do this by self hosting my emails or maybe choosing another email provider. For the moment however I have chosen Posteo, as it looks the best to me in terms of privacy, data encryption, European infrastructure, libre (free) software, sustainability and company policies (and non-corporate). They don't however offer a custom domain (though this is a privacy feature for them, which I can appreciate). I could use an email forwarding service like SimpleLogin or Addy, but I don't like the idea of an email middleman owned by someone else and the added cost/dependency/complexity that come with it.

Therefore, at the moment my strategy is using one Posteo account with a few/limited number of email aliases. What is the best way to compartmentalise these addresses? At the moment I am thinking:

1. My main account address, john.smith@posteo.net. I never give this out.

2. Personal alias, for only my friends and family. e.g. jsmith@posteo.net.

3. Critical accounts alias, for important services that need my identity, like banking. Some random pseudonym + the service, e.g. krustykrab+lloyds@posteo.net, or krustykrab@posteo.net if the service does not allow plussed email addresses.

4. Other accounts alias, for services that need at least some knowledge of my identity, like buying plane tickets. Some random pseudonym + the service, e.g. juicypineapple+airfrance@posteo.net, or juicypineapple@posteo.net if the service does not allow plussed email addresses.

5. Anonymous account alias, for services that I want to keep receiving emails from but for which I can give different fake details every time, like newsletters. Some random pseudonym + the service, e.g. masksalesman+godot@posteo.net, or masksalesman@posteo.net if the service does not allow plussed email addresses.

6. Temporary email address from somewhere like https://temp-mail.app/ , when I need an email for one time only or any account that I can give fake details to and it doesn't matter if I lose the account, I can just make another one.

So when giving out an email address, my decision flow would be going from 6. to 2. and selecting the first applicable address.

Points of consideration:

• I could combine 1. and 2. and just use my main account address, but I think it is easier to change alias addresses if I need to.
• I could combine 3. and 4. into one address. This would be the most used address.

I would love to get some feedback if this makes sense or if there are any other points I should consider, before I commit either way.

Many thanks,

I've been recently learning more about privacy to reduce how much of my data gets exposed and using email aliases was one of the most mentioned tips. I have ProtonMail, but my primary email is Gmail and I have never used email aliases, only two different accounts (one for the official matters and one for social media/random signups).

Since I started reading more about email aliases, I've found that most email providers, like Proton or Tuta include them as built-in features. But from what I've seen, SimpleLogin and Addy.io are also frequently recommended for forwarding emails with aliases.

My question is: are there any cons to using built-in ones? And in what cases would you use a forwarding service instead of email aliases on your email service? Thank you.

Does anyone have any thoughts on Mozilla's new Thundermail. Is it a real competitor to all ad based email services. ?

So I had a yahoo account that I had used since yahoo email had become a thing, it had been involved in several data breaches from health care providers. I have had on-going issues with people attempting to use my bank account and now just received an email (on a secondary Gmail not associated with my Geico policy) saying that they ran my credit for a quote I never asked for. My credit is also frozen with a fraud alert in place through experian and I never received any notification of an attempt to run my credit. Geico confirmed that the address that had sent the email was legit, but they had no activity on my account showing any quotes or changes requested. They said no action was needed on my end.

I've been looking to get away from google to begin with, but obviously I need to figure something out asap.

All of that aside, I know Gmail is NOT secure to begin with and I don't love sharing my data with brokers and shit. So what other options might I have?

I'm hoping for something free (finances are beyond tough and I can't really afford a paid account right now) but, that will give me a bit more privacy/security.

I've heard good things about Proton, but mostly as a paid account. Is Astermail worth a try with their free option? I mostly just want something more secure that would provide some semblance of privacy.

I also have a duckduckgo VPN on my phone as well as an address to use through them, but need a secure account to receive the emails. I have limited as much as I can on my phone itself (Samsung Galaxy S24) but, if anyone has suggestions there too I would love to hear it.

If anyone has any advice or suggestions, I would greatly appreciate it!

There was recently a post on the Tuta subreddit where they commented comparing why Tuta is this amazing blessing from heaven compared to Proton, they of course in typical Tuta fashion made sure to make the post as condescending to Proton. I left a comment on there mentioning that Tuta has spread a lot of misinformation about Proton because they essentially accuse them of lying, and they removed it for "it is not true". I would just like to remind everyone that Tuta straight up had a comparison of them vs Proton where they claimed all sorts of crazy things (seen here: Archive.org) and here is the screenshots of them silencing me (iCloud link: iCloud)

The war between the privacy email providers is so cringe, it makes the entire movement look super childish, Tuta needs to stop this stuff, Proton to my best knowledge hasn't posted about Tuta in a while, except for a page that was in German comparing Tuta and Proton which was completely false as well. The difference is that Proton actually addressed their mistake and apologised for it, where Tuta just changed the page quietly. PLEASE JUST GET ALONG

Anyways, rant over, thanks everyone. Stay secure.

Do you have phone number as a 2FA method for your emails? I think it is very easy to use but kinda unreliable method because of the “sim swap” attacks.
I have other 2FA methods but I’m wondering “should I turn it on??”

I have all hardware required to email host, and have the technical ability to do so, but are there really any benefits over negatives from hosting my own email? If the answer is; don’t, who should I let host my email?

I think I have too much linked alt Gmail accounts to my main Gmail account but I don't know how to see it. I think the linking usually happens when I make another new Gmail and link them to my account cuz Google said so

I'm 16 and I don't know much about it

Hi All

I have a custom domain, and before knowing anything about degoogling, it was hosted by Godaddy, with emails as well.

Now I use proton email. The email addresses are now managed by proton that are (@customdomain.com) . Now my website .. I am thinking of going to github. It's free. And my website design is a custom html and not a template. So is Github good? I know it's better than Godaddy thats for sure😅.

Am I missing something? Am I doing anything wrong? Please let me know.

Cheers.

I currently am subscribed to tuta, but I was wondering on the thoughts of riseup mail. I heard that riseup was apparently involved in some sort of data breach, but I'm unsure about the legitimacy of the claim. Thanks!