Email problem - security risk?

cal4751cal4751 Posts: 996
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I've been under a lot of stress recently. I wanted to send a copy of an email to my doctors surgery.
Silly me I should just have done a copy and paste the message. Instead I right clicked on the email page to get the Propeties at the bottom of the page and did a copy and paste to the surgeries email address.
I went back later to check it went through alright, then discovered When I clicked on the page I had highlighted it has only gone back to my BT.Yahoo where all the emails can then be opened.I have nothing to hide in my emails so not worrying about that..Just the security side.

I rang the surgery and they said the clerk was off that day and will be back today. I did send another email, asking for them to delete it. Will that be enough.

Is this a security factor and do I need to change my email address, that's the only one I have at the moment, as it's the main one.

Any advice appreciated. Thanks

Comments

  • StigStig Posts: 12,446
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    I don't fully understand what you're saying, but don't worry about it. Doctors surgeries are used to dealing with confidential information.

    You certainly don't need to change your email address.
  • cal4751cal4751 Posts: 996
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    Thanks for the reply. I do tend to worry more about security as there are more people trying to hack into peoples info on their computers.
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    Sorry I am not very good at explaining myself. It's just the email I sent, when they open it up there is a highlighted URL address I posted wrong, so when they open it up it goes back to my BT, Yahoo email page so any emails can be opened.
  • radioanorakradioanorak Posts: 4,247
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    If you feel the need to change your email , I suggest
    www.gmx.com
    You can set up in their mail collector feature to read emails from other sources such as BT Yahoo
  • [Deleted User][Deleted User] Posts: 82
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    Cal4751 Unless you included your user name and password in your email they wont be able to see or read your emails, the reason you can open the URL link to your emails and read them is because your browser has remember user name and password set, so you don’t have to log in every time you want to check your emails If you have any doubt
    Just change your login password.
  • ZenithZenith Posts: 3,868
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    cal4751 wrote: »
    ...It's just the email I sent, when they open it up there is a highlighted URL address I posted wrong, so when they open it up it goes back to my BT, Yahoo email page so any emails can be opened.
    Wouldn't they have to put in your password before they could access your email account?

    edit...posted the same time as hum.
  • chrisjrchrisjr Posts: 33,282
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    cal4751 wrote: »
    Thanks for the reply. I do tend to worry more about security as there are more people trying to hack into peoples info on their computers.
    .


    Sorry I am not very good at explaining myself. It's just the email I sent, when they open it up there is a highlighted URL address I posted wrong, so when they open it up it goes back to my BT, Yahoo email page so any emails can be opened.
    I have a Yahoo e-mail account. There should be no harm in including a URL to your mailbox. I have just tried it with my own. I logged into it and copied the URL displayed in the address bar.

    Then logged out and pasted that URL back into the address bar. As I expected I was taken straight to the login page not my inbox. Same thing happens if I use the normal URL I use to access the mailbox.

    So I suspect that is what would happen in your case as well. So unless you revealed your log in details in the e-mail there is not much chance they could get into anything. Unless you have a really easy to guess password of course :)
  • cal4751cal4751 Posts: 996
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    Oh thanks for all your replies. I do feel a fool. I don't give my password or username, and it's a pretty mixed up one, like me a suppose. LOL..

    The past few years I've been inundated with emails supposedly from banks, Paypal, Ebay etc. Saying that I need to login with my details. No way. They all get deleted.

    I had one from a fictious Paypal saying I need to reactivate my Account as I won't be able to use it. I went straight back to my Paypal Account and everything was O.K.
  • chrisjrchrisjr Posts: 33,282
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    cal4751 wrote: »
    Oh thanks for all your replies. I do feel a fool. I don't give my password or username, and it's a pretty mixed up one, like me a suppose. LOL..

    The past few years I've been inundated with emails supposedly from banks, Paypal, Ebay etc. Saying that I need to login with my details. No way. They all get deleted.

    I had one from a fictious Paypal saying I need to reactivate my Account as I won't be able to use it. I went straight back to my Paypal Account and everything was O.K.
    I would check the Spam filter settings on your account. Anything like that that comes into my Yahoo mailbox gets dumped in the Spam folder which makes it easy to sort out.

    Just occasionally get a legitimate e-mail end up in there and very very occasionally it lets through a spam message. But 99.9999% of the time it works.
  • GetFrodoGetFrodo Posts: 1,805
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    cal4751 wrote: »
    I wanted to send a copy of an email to my doctors surgery.

    The normal way to do this (and easier than any cut-and-paste malarkey) would be to simply open the email and select "Forward", you will then be able to enter the surgery's email address (if you tell us how you read and write your emails then we can be more precise on how this is done, e.g. is it through a browser like Internet Explorer or a client like Outlook/Thunderbird).

    You can still edit the mail e.g. to remove anything you don't want them to see.
  • cal4751cal4751 Posts: 996
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    Getfrodo sorry for not answering sooner. I use Internet Explorer. My brains cells were playing up when I sent that email. I have forwarded emails in the past, so these Senior Moments are getting quite worrying. Stress doesn't help either. Thanks though for your reply.
  • esperantoesperanto Posts: 191
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    cal4751 wrote: »
    Oh thanks for all your replies. I do feel a fool. I don't give my password or username, and it's a pretty mixed up one, like me a suppose. LOL..

    The past few years I've been inundated with emails supposedly from banks, Paypal, Ebay etc. Saying that I need to login with my details. No way. They all get deleted.

    I had one from a fictious Paypal saying I need to reactivate my Account as I won't be able to use it. I went straight back to my Paypal Account and everything was O.K.
    I hear of this so much these days, so here is the solution to the problem of spam and phishing.

    IF you use your computer for ANYTHING involving money. Ebay Paypal, Banking, Amazon etc, it is pure folly to use a tainted email address.

    By “Tainted” I mean one that receives spam.

    It takes but a few minutes to set up a new (and clean) email address, set up one with an unguessable combination of letters and numbers and a strong password.

    Use that clean address for anything involving money, but NOT for passing on messages and jokes to all and sundry or signing up to other sites.

    Keep that address secret from everyone else except the trusted businesses you deal with, problem solved!
  • LION8TIGERLION8TIGER Posts: 8,484
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    esperanto wrote: »
    I hear of this so much these days, so here is the solution to the problem of spam and phishing.

    IF you use your computer for ANYTHING involving money. Ebay Paypal, Banking, Amazon etc, it is pure folly to use a tainted email address.

    By “Tainted” I mean one that receives spam.

    It takes but a few minutes to set up a new (and clean) email address, set up one with an unguessable combination of letters and numbers and a strong password.

    Use that clean address for anything involving money, but NOT for passing on messages and jokes to all and sundry or signing up to other sites.

    Keep that address secret from everyone else except the trusted businesses you deal with, problem solved!

    Good idea, one address for online banking, another for buying online, one for 'normal' day to day stuff and another for signing up to possibly dodgy things.
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