A suspicious email sent to his mother gave Jany Ertveldt an idea. The Fleming developed a free service that analyses suspicious emails within minutes and explains whether they are safe. The aim is to better protect people with less digital literacy, in particular against online scammers.
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New free email service against phishing: “Protecting people with less digital literacy”
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The idea came about a few weeks ago when Ertveldt’s mother received an email purporting to be from a parcel delivery service. She was asked to pay €1.99 to receive her parcel and wasn’t sure whether the message was genuine.
“As it happened, my mum had just ordered something online,” says Ertveldt. “She asked if I could have a look to see if the email was genuine. Because of my work, I could tell straight away that it was a typical phishing email. But not everyone recognises it that quickly.”
According to Jany Ertveldt, such messages are sent to hundreds or even thousands of people. “Some of them fall for it, and that’s how scammers make money.”
Simply forward a suspicious email
With info@checkmijnmail.be Ertveldt aims to make the process as simple as possible. Users do not need to install any app or software. They simply forward a suspicious email and receive an analysis back within a few minutes.
“You can see straight away what’s suspicious about the email,” he says. “If it concerns a perfectly normal advertising email. Even then, the system explains exactly what’s going on.”
The system checks the sender, the domain behind the email address, links in the message and even QR codes. It also checks how long a website has been in existence.
“Fraudsters often use domains that have only recently been created,” explains Ertveldt. “That can be an important warning sign.”
Database containing hundreds of suspicious websites
The email service compares emails against a database of more than 600 domains. This database is updated every week with new reports and warnings.
“We’re expanding the system every week,” says Ertveldt. “We monitor reports of online fraud and add new information. This makes the system increasingly smarter.”
Since its launch, he has noticed that more and more people are using the service. “At the moment, dozens of users have already had an email checked. We’re seeing growing interest.”
Privacy must continue to be guaranteed
According to Ertveldt, privacy has been a key priority from the outset. That is why the service does not store forwarded emails.
“As soon as someone has received the analysis, the email is deleted,” he says. “At the end of the day, we also delete all log files. We do not keep any records of the user.”
Dream of collaborating with the government
The service is free, and Ertveldt wants to keep it that way. His ambition is to reach even more people and further expand the system.
“I want it to remain as simple as possible,” he says. “Ideally, in the future we could collaborate with the government or with cyber safety agency Safeonweb. That way, we can help even more people recognise phishing for free.”