The email account is the central point of your online activity: if it is compromised, a hacker can use it to reset all your passwords via the "forgot password" function and gain access to many other sites. That's why you need to secure it properly.

An email account should be created with a unique and strong password (details in chapter 7) and ideally with a two-factor authentication system (details in chapter 8).

Although we all already have an email account, it's essential to consider creating a new, more modern one to start fresh.

Proper management of our email addresses is crucial to ensure the security of our online access. It is important to choose a secure and privacy-respecting email provider. For example, ProtonMail is a safe and privacy-respecting email service.

When choosing an email provider and creating a password, it is essential to never reuse the same password for different online services. It is recommended to regularly create new email addresses and use them for various purposes. It is advisable to use a secure email service for critical accounts. It is also worth noting that some services limit the length of passwords, so it is essential to be aware of this limitation. Services are also available for creating temporary email addresses, which can be used for accounts with a limited duration.

Just to let you know, older email providers, such as La Poste, Arobase, Wig, and Hotmail, are still in use, but their security practices may not be as robust as those of Gmail. Therefore, it is recommended to have two separate email addresses: one for general communications and the other for account recovery, with the latter being more secure. It is best to avoid mixing your email address with that of your phone operator or internet service provider, as this can serve as an attack vector.

You should use the Have I Been Pwned website (https://haveibeenpwned.com/) to check if your email address has been compromised and to receive notifications of future data breaches. Hackers can exploit a hacked database to send phishing emails or reuse compromised passwords.

In general, starting to use a new, more secure email address is not a bad practice and is even necessary if one wants to start fresh on a healthy basis. Bonus Bitcoin: It may be advisable to create a specific email address for our Bitcoin activities, such as creating exchange accounts, to separate these areas of activity in our lives truly.