Digitaler Durchblick: Besser behalten: Aufgegebene Mail-Adressen bergen Gefahren

When people give away their email address, they cannot rely on the provider to not assign that address again in the future. As a result, the new user might receive emails not intended for them. This becomes problematic, especially with sensitive mails containing personal information or granting access to customer accounts. The Stiftung Warentest warns against this risk.

In the worst case scenario, unauthorized individuals could access personal accounts with enough clues to identify or piece together enough personal data for identity theft - a data privacy nightmare. Therefore, the testers recommend keeping old addresses whenever possible. Simply retaining old addresses means using them as a free mailbox.

If the email address being given up is a paid service, one can inquire with the provider if it can be converted into a free mailbox. To conveniently have emails from one or more old addresses without constantly checking them, email folders can usually be set up in the settings to automatically forward incoming messages to the new, current mailbox. This convenience should be applied to the old mailboxes as well for seamless email management.