What risks are associated with free email services?

Although free email services have many benefits, you should not use them to send sensitive information. Because you are not paying for the account, the organization may not have a strong commitment to protecting you from various threats or offering you the best service. Some of the elements you risk are: 

Security - If your login, password, or messages are sent in plain text, they may easily be intercepted. If a service provider offers SSL encryption, you should use it. You can find out whether this is available by looking for a "secure mode" or by replacing the "http:" in the URL with "https:" (see Protecting Your Privacy for more information).

Privacy - You aren't paying for your email account, but the service provider has to find some way to recover the costs of providing the service. One way of generating revenue is to sell advertising space, but another is to sell or trade information.

Make sure to read the service provider's privacy policy or terms of use to see if your name, your email address, the email addresses in your address book, or any of the information in your profile has the potential of being given to other organizations (see Protecting Your Privacy for more information).

If you are considering forwarding your work email to a free email account, check with your employer first. You do not want to violate any established security policies.

Reliability - Although you may be able to access your account from any computer, you need to make sure that the account is going to be available when you want to access it. Familiarize yourself with the service provider's terms of service so that you know exactly what they have committed to providing you.

For example, if the service ends or your account disappears, can you retrieve your messages? Does the service provider give you the ability to download messages that you want to archive onto your machine? Also, if you happen to be in a different time zone than the provider, you may find that their server maintenance interferes with your normal email routine.

Authors: Mindi McDowell, Allen Householder
Copyright 2005 Carnegie Mellon University.