What is an email alias and why use one?
An email alias is a unique, disposable address that forwards to your real inbox. Stores and newsletters never see your real address: if an alias leaks or starts attracting spam, you switch it off and the problem is gone. Proton Pass has aliases built into its password manager.
Your email address is the key to your digital identity: it links your accounts together, is the target of phishing, and surfaces in spam lists after every breach. An alias breaks that chain. For each service you create a unique address (say, store-x.a8f2@aliasservice) that forwards everything to your real inbox. The sender never sees the real one.
The benefits show up fast. Spam on an alias tells you exactly which service shared or leaked your data, and you disable just that alias. Phishing mails that arrive at your main address pretending to be from a service you registered with an alias expose themselves instantly. And after a breach, the leaked address is worthless for the rest of your accounts.
Proton Pass makes this the easiest: aliases live inside the password manager itself, the free plan includes ten, and the paid plan unlimited. At every signup you generate a unique password and a unique email address in one click.