Using your University of North Carolina work email as the primary email account for your personal banking, credit card, savings, and other accounts is dangerous for many reasons.
- Your UNC email address is more likely to be attacked and/or hijacked than a Hotmail, Gmail, Yahoo, AOL, iCloud, ProtonMail, or other personal email address.
- Your UNC email address can be lost when you separate employment from UNC.
- Your UNC email is subject to inspection by university employees and content of emails can be released by public records request or court order.
- UNC/State of North Carolina resources may not be used for political activity not related to your job.
For all these reasons, it is STRONGLY recommended that all personal financial information, political work, end even online shopping receipts be directed to a non-UNC email address.
Visit Two Factor Auth (2FA) for a list of email offerings that include 2-factor authentication.
When choosing an email address and username, choose something unique, that does not consist of common words or names. This will prevent “dictionary attacks” on your account.
For more information on setting up a new email account, contact F&O IT Security and we’ll be happy to discuss your exposures and options with you.