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Give every sign-up its own email address
Why it matters: When a site is breached, an alias shows you which one leaked and can be switched off. A message to an alias that claims to be your bank is an instant giveaway.
Do it
- Turn on an alias service; some are built into your existing cloud or password manager.
- Use a new alias for each new sign-up.
- Move noisy existing accounts to aliases as you log in to them.
- Turn off any alias that starts receiving spam or phishing.
Check it worked: New shopping, newsletter and app sign-ups use email aliases, and your real address is reserved for banks, family and key accounts.
Simply put
An email alias is like giving each shop a different forwarding address. If one starts getting junk, you know who leaked it and switch it off, and 'your bank' writing to a shopping alias is an instant giveaway.
In detail
Aliases also make your accounts harder to link, which matters as data brokers and AI tools combine breached records into fuller profiles. The same idea extends to masked phone numbers for marketplaces and deliveries.
Points toward the Long View: accounts that are harder to link into one profile of you.