Temporary mail sites provide users with a quick and easy way to receive emails for a short period. They’re a great way to prevent cluttering your primary inbox with spam. Instead of giving your main email to leave a comment or register for a site, you can provide a temporary email to protect your personal information.
But are temporary mail sites safe, and are there cases where you should avoid using them?
What temporary emails are great for
If you use them appropriately, temporary mail sites are a safe alternative to providing your real email address. They will help keep your primary inbox free of clutter and spam emails. You will still be able to register for whatever site you want.
Many sites offer free resources, like a short eBook, in exchange for your email address and other personal information. You can hack the system with a temporary email and receive the eBook without providing any real information. This will protect your identity and prevent spam emails or even your data from being sold on the dark web.
How safe are temporary mail sites?
Temporary mail sites are great for interacting with online services if you’re not too keen on giving them your data. However, there are inherent security flaws with many temporary email providers, even the most popular ones. While these providers promise to give you a unique temporary email, that’s not always true.
You may find that your temporary email is already in use. It means that another person can see your emails. They can use that to change account passwords (if this temporary mail site even allows you to create a password) and potentially access your sensitive data. If you want to maximize your account security, consider using a password manager. Not all temporary email providers do this, so finding a reputable provider is essential to ensure safety.
Regardless, you should still avoid using a temporary email for anything sensitive, such as:
- E-commerce accounts (Amazon, eBay, etc.)
- Receiving or sending important documents
- Registering for any accounts you plan to use actively, etc.
Using temporary email securely
The primary step to using disposable email securely is finding a reputable provider. It would be ideal if you could create your own temporary email on the platform instead of getting a randomized one. This reduces the chance of duplicates.
Regardless of your chosen provider, you should still absolutely avoid using temporary emails for sensitive emails. Secure cloud storage is a better alternative if you need somewhere to store sensitive data. Secure means the provider has a zero-knowledge encryption policy intact so that you can keep your files 100% confidentially.
Conclusion
Temporary email is a great service if used correctly. It will protect your personal information from suspicious websites. It’s also quick to set up as it requires no registration. With that said, there are some security concerns with temporary email.
The main worry is that you can never be sure two people won’t get the same email simultaneously. That’s why it’s best to avoid using temporary emails to send or receive sensitive information.
