Be Careful When Typing In Your Email – Dangerous Human Error

We’re used to hearing about how important our passwords are. Here at the VPN Guru, we’re very clear on the need to create unique strong passwords for each and every account you have. However, there is one thing we haven’t talked about yet: your email. Your email address has a glaring vulnerability, you! Read on to find out how dangerous a human error is and what you can do to stop it.

Human Error in Emails – The Full Story

Do you remember the first time you made an email address? If you’re like most of the human race, you probably didn’t get your first email choice. I, for example, tried several variations of the email I wanted before I found one that wasn’t already taken.

My point here is that your email, even though it is 100% unique, is likely similar to the emails of other people. This is logic, not really something anyone can contest, right?

Well, this similarity can still cause you some trouble. The BBC recently reported on a story that shows just how badly emails are susceptible to human error.

According to the BBC, a man inadvertently handed over his personal information to a complete stranger by simply typing in the wrong email while applying to the credit service ClearScore.

The man seemed to have messed up while sign up to the service and typed in the wrong email address. The email he typed in apparently belongs to another man who has the same name he does. ClearScore then sent the access email to the address the man typed in.

In other words, he inadvertently sent his credit score to a complete stranger, who was able to change the password of the account and gain full access to all the information inside it.

How to Stop Human Error When Typing In an Email

Since this is a case of human error, the first solution that comes to mind is being more conscious of what you type when you’re signing up for something. Even if you’ve typed your email a thousand times before, mistakes do happen. Always double check to see if you have typed in the correct email address.

The second solution doesn’t really have anything to do with users, per se. Websites do take precautions when it comes to you setting a password, but not all of them do the same for your email.

While it is important to see whether you’ve created a strong password or not, it’s also important for a site to have settings in place that guarantee that you’ve typed in the correct email. Websites that force you to type out your email twice or offer two-factor authentication for email accuracy have the right idea.

Emails and Human Error – Final Thoughts

Even though most people know their emails back-to-front, there’s always room for human error. For that reason, it’s important for internet users to be just as cognizant of what they’re doing/typing online as a website is of what fields it asks a new user to fill out. Telling people to pay attention to the email they type in may seem too obvious, but to err is to human after all.