The Importance of Deleting Old Accounts

One thing to be very careful about is closing an email account. I know a lot of people are going to say what the danger in deleting an old email account is. There can be a lot of problems with closing an old email. To start with an email address, like @gmail, @yahoo.com, @outlook.com may recycle emails. If I created an email account today on Yahoo and deleted it, you could get that email if you wanted in 60 days. This is not a problem for an email account that was hardly ever used but what if you delete that email account and someone gets it and it was tied to an old credit card or old friends that may send you an email it would be very easy for the hacker to scam a friend for money or get a new credit card sent to a P.O. Box cause they are the owner of the email address on file.

The other thing to be very concerned about is old social media accounts. Believe it or not, you can still get into your Myspace Account if you really want to and look up old pictures it’s still around. I bet if you really wanted to you could even get into your old ICQ account that’s still around as well if you could remember your original number. My point is these old accounts can still be out there. Now granted these old accounts are not tied to anything but what about an old Facebook, Twitter, Amazon, or a Gmail account.

Many people over the years have said to me “Well I don’t use that old Facebook account after my ex, and I broke up I opened a new one.” Which might be a great idea but that old account is still sitting out there with pictures, information and verified by Facebook. What if someone were to get the password to that old account and send out a virus or spyware to those people still on your contact list.

What if that old Facebook account is tied to something like a login to a website? Even worse what if that old Amazon account still has an old credit card on file even if it’s out data information do you still want attackers to access that information.

My point is just because you never touch an old account does not mean it’s closed or deleted. Please be careful with how you handle accounts online.

For more information contact us.