If you access your email through a web based system using a web browser (Yahoo, Hotmail, Gmail or any other web-based email system), you may be at risk for:

 

 

• Theft of login and password.
• Content disclosure of any email in the mailbox.
• Automatically send emails from the mailbox.
• Exploitation of known vulnerabilities in web browsers.
• Distribution of a web-based email worm.
• Disclosure of all contacts within the address book.

To avoid these issues while using your webmail:

 

• Make sure you are using a current supported web browser.
• Apply the latest security patches and updates for your browser and check for these updates often.
• Change your email password every 30 to 90 days.
• Do not use unfamiliar computers to check your webmail as they can be behind in security updates, anti-virus updates and may not have a good firewall or also may be compromised with malware (viruses, ad-ware/spyware, keyloggers, rootkits etc).