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In this week’s Security Bite, I’m taking it back over 20 years to the launch of Gmail in 2004–because that’s how long its little-known plus addressing (aliasing) feature has quietly existed. It was originally created to help with filtering and keeping inboxes tidy long before spam became what it is today. Google never really promoted it, so most people still don’t realize it’s a thing. But over the years, it’s become popular among privacy-minded folks to track which online services, subscriptions, etc., are selling email addresses to other companies or leaking them.
It’s one of everyone’s biggest e-irritants.
Allow me to set the scene: You create a new email address with a fresh and clean inbox. At first, all the emails you receive are from services you signed up for, including a couple from the email provider welcoming you to the service. A month later, you might’ve opened some social media accounts, signed up for some newsletters, started searching for a new car, etc. Before you know it, you’re getting hundreds of emails (aka spam) a week from unknown senders. Some harmless and some malicious looking to really put a damper on your day.
The plus addressing feature isn’t a full-stop way to prevent spam; in fact, it won’t prevent it any less, but it will put some power back in your hands, sorta speak, and help you identify bad online actors who aren’t being honest or safe with your information.
Plus addressing in Gmail and Outlook
Gmail and Outlook both support plus addressing. It’s very easy to set up and works by tacking on an alias to your email address using the “+” symbol. Example: [email protected]
You can put any word after the “+” to help you track who you gave your address to.
Signing up to buy a new car? Try: [email protected]
How about a new social media account? Try: [email protected]
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