Know how to identify genuine email from FastMail
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Founder & CTO
Update: As of July 13th, 2022, this page is no longer up-to-date. Please refer to this help page to see how to identify a genuine email from Fastmail.
Recently, we’ve seen an upswing in the number of attempts by criminals to steal FastMail accounts. We’re working hard to maintain our high security and keep them at bay, but we’ve also got three simple tips you can follow to keep your account secure.
- Know how to identify genuine email from FastMail
All genuine email from FastMail is displayed with a white tick in a green circle next to the sender’s name in both the mailbox list and on the message itself. It looks exactly like this in the mailbox:
And like this on the message:
If the email doesn’t have the green tick, it’s not from us.
Please note, we can only do this in our web interface and apps; it will not appear in other email clients. It will also not appear in our classic interface; we recommend users upgrade to our current interface for increased security.
Always look for the green tick before trusting emails supposedly from FastMail.
- Look for the green badge before logging in
When logging into our webmail, always look for a green badge in the address bar of your browser with the text “FastMail Pty Ltd”. Phishing sites (scam websites that try to steal your login details) can easily clone the look and feel of our website, however they can’t clone the green badge.
The badge looks like this in Google Chrome:
And like this in Mozilla Firefox:
And like this in Safari:
And like this in Internet Explorer:
And like this in Opera:
If you don’t see the badge, you’re not at the genuine FastMail website.
- Never reuse your FastMail password at another service
Your email is the key to your digital life. Almost every web service you use, such as Amazon, Facebook or Twitter, allows you to reset their password by sending a link to your email address. It’s vitally important to keep your email password secure, as it provides access to everything else!
When you reuse your FastMail password at other sites, you’re making it much easier for attackers to potentially break in to your account. Other sites often don’t have the same high security measures as FastMail (such as compulsory HTTPS, locked-down servers, etc.), which makes them much easier for criminals to break in to. If they hold your email address and the same password that you use for FastMail, the attacker can then access your email account and get into everything else you use online.
Always use a unique password for FastMail that you don’t use elsewhere.
Follow these three simple tips, and you’ll be protected against the vast majority of attacks we see.