These past couple of years have been nothing less than a rollercoaster for people across the globe. As a result of the pandemic, the ongoing shift to digital platforms took center stage and accelerated at a much higher pace. It is not surprising that this progression to an online format brought its own set of challenges and concerns, the foremost being the question of security and privacy. Discussions around cybersecurity have been ongoing for years now and, with the swiftly changing internet landscape and the increase in cybercrime, it is of utmost importance to address the issue.
Polycred, a web extension that generates email aliases, began operations earlier this year with the main objective to address these growing concerns and protect the 3.8 billion email accounts that are currently in use. Patrick O’Brien and Aaron Lefkowitz, both software developers with over 25 years of experience, originally established the company in order to protect email account users from possible cyber attacks. In the wake of increasing threats online, Polycred’s focus on the issue of privacy and security also helps combat spam emails that mailbox owners are all too familiar with.
Cybercrime is proving to be very costly for the global economy, with damages at approximately $600 billion and a bleak outlook for the future. Furthermore, the increase in online banking services and cryptocurrency investments has concurrently led to an increase in phishing attacks and ransomware. Hackers often use emails to steal a user’s financial information or gain access to their computer and steal company data. By allowing users to create their email aliases, Polycred enables them to protect their emails, thus securing their systems from such breaches.
Our email accounts store some of the most important information about our digital selves. Moreover, a lot of our financial data and electronic transactions are often recorded/ linked to our email accounts, and cyber criminals commonly leverage such available knowledge to carry out their schemes. Whether for fraud, scams, or identity theft, our emails themselves hold valuable information that hackers can misuse. With their offering, Polycred endeavors to secure this knowledge by limiting the number of people/ entities we share this with.
The web extension feature also offers an alternative for those who use online services and do not want to disclose their email addresses. Concealing one’s email address ensures a level of privacy from marketers and criminals and keeps junk email at bay. Presently, with at least 100 million spam emails received every day, Polycred’s offering allows an added layer of security against the possible threats contained in those emails.
With Polycred, an individual can create a number of email accounts for various purposes, which can later be disabled or disposed of when spam emails begin to appear. Users can organize their emails without worrying about their data being sold for profit or a possible security breach on their personal accounts. While the paid version allows one to generate an unlimited number of aliases, the free version of the product permits the usage of 20 aliases in their account at any one time. Once the limit is reached, users can delete old aliases and create new ones.
Hackers can gain access to our accounts by getting ahold of our personally identifiable information, which includes our email accounts. In a time when signing up for any online service almost always requires sharing our emails, having an email alias adds a buffer to secure our online identities from malicious attacks. By doing so, Polycred helps protect our accounts from being targeted and breached or worse, our identities being stolen as a result of a data leak.
Since its inception, Polycred has created more than 20,000 aliases for users across the globe. In comparison to the other similar products in the market, Polycred’s offering is accessible to all, and its use is not restricted to a certain platform or operating system. Both versions of Polycred are available on their website, where users can sign up for it based on their preference.
