AWeber, one of the world’s largest email marketing platforms, recently experienced a major outage that left many of their users unable to send or receive emails. The issues stemmed from a DDoS (Distributed Denial of Service) attack that overwhelmed one of their servers. Luckily, the company was able to mitigate the attack and regain full functionality. But, even after a few hours, many of their users were still experiencing issues. In this blog post, we will discuss the security implications of this recent outage and how you can protect yourself and your brand. So sit back, relax, and get ready to learn.
Threats to Your Email Inbox
If you’re reading this, I assume you’re either a current or previous AWeber user who experienced the outage. So you know what happened and can stop pretending. Out of respect for those who still can’t use AWeber (or are fearful of potential future issues), I won’t dive into the details of the outage here. Instead, I’ll point you to their status page, which they’ve been very active in updating with the latest information.
While we don’t know the exact number of people affected by the outage, it’s clear that AWeber is one of the most popular email marketing platforms in the world. Which makes it all the more concerning when considering the security risks associated with this kind of product.
The good news is that AWeber is taking security seriously, and their developers have already implemented some very significant security enhancements in response to this incident. So while this was an uncomfortable episode for the company and its users, it could have been a whole lot worse. Thanks to the enhanced security measures, you and your email inbox will now be much safer.
How to Stay Safe While Using AWeber
To follow suit and ensure the safety of your email inbox, you’ll need to do a few things.
First, make sure you’re always using a reputable service provider. There are many scammers out there who will try and trick you into believing that your email inbox is at risk if you don’t use their services. So it’s important that you’re not being fooled by claiming to be a certain email service when in fact you’re not. This is a common tactic used by scammers. They will attempt to make you believe that their service is the only one that can help you when, in fact, it can do more harm than good. Verify that the email server you’re connecting to is a trusted one, or connect through a VPN (Virtual Private Network) to ensure that your personal data remains private. When connecting through a VPN, your ISP (Internet Service Provider) will not be able to see which sites you’re connecting to and your personal data will remain secure. Your VPN provider will also keep track of your activity so you can connect through their service anytime you want without fear of being tracked.
Now that you’re using a reputable service provider, you can feel comfortable sending and receiving emails through AWeber. So let’s move on to the next step.
Step Two: Use a Strong Password
Passwords are one of the most important security measures you have to take for keeping your data safe. This is especially important if you’re using the same password for multiple accounts. Otherwise, someone could access your personal data if they got their hands on your password. So make sure you choose a unique password for every account you create, and don’t write it down anywhere (especially not on a sticky note attached to your computer). You can change your password whenever you want, but it’s best to do so at least once a month to ensure you keep your accounts safe. Some services such as LastPass help you keep your passwords organized and easily accessible. For those of you who use AWeber, it’s a great opportunity to strengthen your password policy and ensure your accounts stay safe.
Step Three: Use Two-Factor Authentication
Two-factor authentication (2FA) is a very useful security measure. The idea is that, in addition to using a strong password, you’ll use another piece of information (something you know or a token) as a password replacement. So instead of just using your username and password to access your account, you’ll be required to enter a code (typically sent to your phone via SMS text message or a login link via email) in addition to your password. There are many reputable services that offer 2FA, including Google Authenticator and Authy.
With 2FA, even if someone gets access to your password, they’ll still need to have your phone or email to continue accessing your account. This makes it that little bit more difficult for someone to misuse your data. It also prevents you from forgetting your password. So use 2FA whenever you can.
Step Four: Back Up Your Data
Last but not least, we have backups. It’s important to have regular backups of your data in case something happens to your primary device. If your Gmail account was affected by the AWeber outage, for example, you could have lost access to your inbox. Luckily, the company was able to restore your access to it after the attack. But, if they can’t protect your data against future incidents, then it’s game over. Regular backups will help prevent you from losing any data due to errors or accidents, whether they’re on your part or someone else’s. AWeber has developed a free tool that will assist you in backing up your data and restoring it in case of an incident. So if you want to stay safe online, make sure you’re always backing up your data.