The Better Business Bureau has issued a warning about vacation property rental houses after a consumer was robbed of $1830 online while trying to rent a vacation home. The consumer found a property on VRBO.com and then wrote to the host to rent the property. The would-be host emailed the potential rented a contract and had him wire money into a bank account to prepay the rental fee. Instead of a confirmation email, he found out that VRBO.com had been hacked and that any activity off of the site should be reported.

Iterable, an email marketing startup dedicated to the SMB market, has raised $1.2 million to help fund its new platform. The company was founded by Twitter and Google graduates who hope to help marketers improve personalization and testing in email campaigns. The tool is dedicated to A/B testing, personalization and triggered campaigns.

Insurance company Anthem has warned customers about a potential email scam after the company's website experienced a security breach. The spam email claims to come from Anthem and offers recipients a year of free credit card account protection. The message asks customers to share their credit card number in order to take advantage of the fake offer.

IBM's super intelligent computer Watson wants to help solve inbox overload. The company has plans to release a new personal assistant powered by Watson software that can help email users determine which emails are important and which are not. The online email service is called Verse, and it uses algorithms to determine which emails are important and which are not based on user data.

Email services firm Message Systems has acquired its competitor Port25 Solutions is a deal whose terms were not disclosed. The combined company will offer email infrastructure tools for clients ranging from small businesses to enterprise-level companies. Message Systems will incorporate Port25 as a stand-alone business unit.

Nebraska-based commodities trader Scoular Company lost $17.2 million in an email scam. The company wired the money to a bank in China last year in what they believed to be a legitimate business transaction. The emails appeared to come from the CEO of the company's auditing firm and were sent directly to Scoular's corporate controller. The emails claimed asked for money for the secret acquisition of a Chinese company. Thus, Scoular made the money transfers discreetly.

Australian web developer Naavi has launched a new email marketing tool for small businesses that aims to be "the simplest email tool on the planet" for personalization. Zapmail, which is currently in private beta allows users to create rich-media newsletters that are personalized. The service uses a pay-as-you-go model charging $8.99 for 500 emails, with the first 100 free.

Movie executive Amy Pascal has left her position as the chief of Sony Pictures after her private email was hacked and shared with the world. The emails exposed Pascal's cut throat ways and racist jokes which damaged her reputation. The emails were hacked by Guardians of Peace, a group that the US government claimed are connected to North Korea.

Werner Koch, the inventor of the free email encryption tool called Gnu Privacy Guard, has raised money to keep his project alive. The tool, which is used by journalists ad the whistleblowers including Edward Snowden, received the funding after running a story about his need in Pro Publica. The Linux Foundation's Core Infrastructure Initiative donated $60,000.Werner's website donation page has generated $137,000 and Facebook and the online payment processor Stripe each pledged to donate $50,000 a year to the effort.

The White House has changed how intelligence and law enforcement agencies can use the NSA's database of the electronic communications of foreigners. Under the new policy, the government must delete information that is not relevant to a national security matter after being held for five years. The change comes a year after President Obama promised reform in response to Edward Snowden's leaks.