Attention Real Estate Professionals, It's Time to Secure Your Email

If you have a wireless laptop, listen up! It's time to make sure your email is secure.

When you sit at your local coffee shop to surf the internet and get your email, you

are most likely using a connection that is not encrypted. This means the data flying

through the air from your laptop to the internet is not secure. It can be intercepted.

Most wireless hotspots don't bother turning encryption on because it would make

them crazy having to hand out the password to everyone and then deal with all of

the people that did not know how to use it to connect. To keep it easy for everyone,

encryption stays off.

What this means is that when you send and receive your email, your username and

password go flying through the air for any computer geek to grab. The tools you

need to do it are so simple to use these days that even some non-geeks are getting

in on the action.

It's a real risk to your security and the security of your real estate data that most

people aren't aware of.

Fortunately, most email providers offer the option to encrypt your email

transmissions (both sending and receiving) with the same level of security that you

find when you log into your bank accounts on the internet. The tricky part is that

you actually have to turn the option on for it to protect your email. And what's

worse, some of the big name ISPs (like SBC) don't offer this option for subscribers.

If you have your own real estate website and corresponding email service, check

with your web host as they probably DO offer the extra security.

This "extra security" is called SSL. It doesn't matter what it stands for, just know

that it means that your email will be encrypted and therefore protected from prying

eyes when you use the internet at wireless hotspots.

The quickest way to see if you "qualify" is to follow these simple steps:

1. Contact your ISP or web host and ask them if they support sending and receiving

email with SSL encryption.

2. If they do, ask them for the correct settings to put into your email program.

As wireless hotspots become more and more widespread and the software that

allows people to do wireless "snooping" becomes easier and easier to use, it is

important that you take precautions to protect your data.

Check into it now, because somebody's watching...