Google® Business Solutions All-in-One For Dummies®

Chapter 2. Securing E-Mail

In This Chapter

• Understanding how e-mail gets to you

• Understanding where e-mail can get you into trouble

• Avoiding phishing scams

• Stopping the buildup of spam

• Securing your e-mail traffic

E-mail has worked itself into the fabric of everyday life (which includes your business, naturally), so it's important that you be able to use it securely. Every business transaction you can think of can probably be carried out via e-mail. Its ease of use and capability to operate on a variety of media makes it an easy choice. But e-mail comes with its own set of problems and rules, so be aware of those problems and make sure your e-mails stay safe and secure. That's what this chapter is all about.

Understanding How E-Mail Works

Before you address the potential problems of using e-mail, you need to understand how you send and receive these messages, and how those messages make their way over the Internet to their intended locations. It's a little more complicated than a series of tubes, but you should be able to get the hang of it easily.

Up to this point, you may have been a regular user of e-mail but you may never have known exactly what goes on behind the scenes. You write your message, you type in the recipient's e-mail address (or click Reply All and hope for the best), and then click Send. The e-mail eventually gets to where it needs to go (you could time it by phoning the recipient and checking on it, I suppose, but that's a little too geeky), or it gets lost for some reason ...