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Do this now: Secure your email account with a simple one-time scan

Published Apr 7th, 2015 2:49PM EDT
Dashlane Inbox Scan Security Tool
Image: Dashlane

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Email accounts often contain many personal details that owners think are safe from prying eyes, including login credentials for other websites written in plain text. However, hackers who might get access to email accounts could then quickly harvest those user name and password combinations for additional malicious activities. To prevent such accidents, password manager Dashlane has created an online tool that can quickly scan your inbox for such details, and alert you whether there’s any action to be taken.

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Called Dashlane Inbox Scan, the tool has a simple Scan my inbox button that lets you configure the account you want to scan and give Dashlane one-time access to it. Once that’s done, the service will scan your account, whether it’s Google, Yahoo, Hotmail or AOL, and offer you a visual representation of the data that might be at risk in your email (as seen in the image above).

“We built Inbox Scan as a cool educational tool to make people realize how easy it was to get sensitive information from their inbox,” Dashlane co-founder Alexis Fogel said. “In most cases, we are able in one click to show you what is your favorite password + a list of all websites you have created an accounts on (which is a gold mine for hackers).”

Dashlane shows bubbles on the screen that represent every account and service with information available in your email. Every time you see a red bubble, it means a plain-text password is stored in one of your emails and should be removed. The bigger the bubble, the more important that service is.

Additionally, Dashlane provides more details about the accounts tied to your email address and whether any of them have suffered any recent breaches.

Dashlane’s Inbox Scan is available for testing at the source link.

Chris Smith Senior Writer

Chris Smith has been covering consumer electronics ever since the iPhone revolutionized the industry in 2008. When he’s not writing about the most recent tech news for BGR, he brings his entertainment expertise to Marvel’s Cinematic Universe and other blockbuster franchises.

Outside of work, you’ll catch him streaming almost every new movie and TV show release as soon as it's available.