If you're like me, you typically hand over your email address without thinking twice when a store promises a discount. It's become a natural part of the shopping experience. While those quick signups for holiday shopping deals seem harmless, they can flood our inboxes with relentless promotions. They can also expose your email to data breaches long after the holidays.
Chester Wisniewski, director and chief information security officer at Sophos, a cybersecurity firm, said the risk of oversharing your email is often underestimated. "Most of us use one primary email address. Once criminals know it's real, it opens up many opportunities for them to try to get into other accounts," he explained.
That's why Apple's Hide My Email feature can be such a useful tool this time of year.
Instead of giving every retailer your primary email address, you can generate a random email alias for holiday shopping and returns. The messages still land in your inbox, but the retailer won't have your real email address. If the alias starts getting spammed or you no longer need messages from the company you gave it to, you can shut it off in seconds.
I used Hide My Email to reduce the amount of holiday spam I was receiving. Here's how you can do the same and protect your personal information this holiday shopping season.
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Why I use the Hide My Email feature during the holidays
This Apple feature is great for the holiday season when you sign up for discounts, track orders or returns. These messages can be helpful in the moment, but often turn into frequent marketing emails that continue into the new year.
Companies may also provide your email to third parties, which means even more messages in your inbox. Hide My Email means you can use the alias for these short-term needs and turn it off (or back on) as you want. This helps you avoid an inbox with hundreds or thousands of unread emails.
"It's enlightening what you find when you start using unique emails [for different companies]," Wisniewski said. "You start noticing how many companies are selling your information because all the marketing goes to the address you used with them."
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