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I have decided to ditch my Yahoo email addresses, and add a second Gmail address for my "professional" stuff (bills, college, work, etc). I am doing this because of the 2-step verification feature Gmail offers.

In light of this, how am I to best secure this new mail? I was thinking:

  • I could take notice of every "important" email that hits my inbox, log in to each site, and change over my email address to the Gmail one. Then delete my old Yahoo email account.

This would take a lot of time, but I have no doubts about its effectiveness in providing me peace of mind, that yes, I am using my new Gmail account, and doing so directly.

Or:

  • Forward all new emails to my Gmail account, and delete all old emails (or not) in my Yahoo account, but keep it active.

I am concerned that forwarding emails is going to create a "weakest link in the chain" effect. I know it's highly unlikely anyone would gain access to my Gmail, but if they did manage to guess my password on Yahoo, they could essentially see some of my most important emails as they are being forwarded, thus nullifying the benefit of two-step verification. Is this assumption correct?

Also, if you know a better way to do this, and I didn't list it, please feel free to consider that too as an answer. Any tips or advice would be helpful as well. Thanks!

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This question is off topic for this SU. Please review the FAQ. – BBlake Sep 10 '12 at 13:38
Your security concern is not something you should concern. If people are only going to be sending you mail to your Yahoo adress then yes, access to your yahoo account, is a concern. If you actually migrate to your Google account this isn't a concern since the only purpose of the old email account is to keep the emails flowing until you update all your accounts and update your friends on your new email address. – Ramhound Sep 10 '12 at 13:48

closed as not constructive by ChrisF, CharlieRB, BBlake, RedGrittyBrick, Luke Sep 10 '12 at 14:40

As it currently stands, this question is not a good fit for our Q&A format. We expect answers to be supported by facts, references, or specific expertise, but this question will likely solicit debate, arguments, polling, or extended discussion. If you feel that this question can be improved and possibly reopened, see the FAQ for guidance.

3 Answers

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Forward all new emails to my Gmail account, and delete all old emails (or not) in my Yahoo account, but keep it active

Google has the ability to check any pop3 account and download the emails. The only question which you need to answer yourself is what you need to do to allow your Google account to access your Yahoo account.

A quick 5 minute research indicates Yahoo might not allow pop3 access for free.

If you follow the directions listed Here you can then setup your google account as imap and simply upload the emails to your Google acccount. This is only required if Yahoo blocks Google from downloading emails through pop3. You can find the page to do so Here

Support Article: Get mail from other accounts
Support Article 2: Can't Import Yahoo Mail into new Gmail Account
Google Mail Blog Article: import-your-mail-and-contacts-from

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In light of this, how am I to best secure this new mail?

Make sure you have a strong password on your Yahoo account and hope they don't get hacked again. Also, make sure your security questions can be answered by ONLY you. This is your weakest point and realistically the only place someone would be able to get into your account if they do not know your password (you should not have a password that someone could guess). I would forward the email from Yahoo for awhile but work on changing your delivery addresses, especially with your 'most important emails' first. After you are confident you have switched the delivery addresses for everywhere you care about, delete the Yahoo account.

I am concerned that forwarding emails is going to create a "weakest link in the chain" effect. I know it's highly unlikely anyone would gain access to my Gmail, but if they did manage to guess my password on Yahoo, they could essentially see some of my most important emails as they are being forwarded, thus nullifying the benefit of two-step verification. Is this assumption correct?

Having a second point of entry (Yahoo) does increase your risk. However, taking the above precautions will make your account quite resistant to a non-targeted attack especially if this is just temporary and your most important emails will be going to your new account. Also, if the emails are forwarded, they don't sit in your Yahoo account anyway.

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This doesn't answer the author's question. – Ramhound Sep 10 '12 at 13:33
up vote 0 down vote

You could set the Yahoo account to forward, and set up filters in your gmail for them as they arrive and you decide they're not important and will never be. That way specific senders can skip the inbox while any emails from an address you've not dealt with yet in the gmail yet will still hit the inbox.

That's the way I'd set it up at any rate.

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and you could of course change account details as you go and give it a certain amount of time before deleting the yahoo account. – Miles Hayler Sep 10 '12 at 14:23

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