The most secure mailbox. The most secure email services with powerful encryption

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Spam, advertising, an invitation to a new online game, an action of an electronics store, a task from the boss, photos from a family holiday - it seems that there is nothing in common between them. But this is exactly what the inbox of a regular email account looks like. Many recommend using two accounts: work (for business correspondence) and personal (for everything else). But what if you just use services mail  more optimal?

Temporary mail

Sometimes you have to register on some site that you plan to visit only once or twice. Without this, you cannot access the information or file that you need so much. But after registering, you find that your mailbox is clogged with spam, advertising and other nonsense. You can spend time unsubscribing from notifications and filtering settings, but it’s easier to use a temporary email address.

Dropmail

The address is valid for unlimited time, but only until the user refreshes the page. But even if you accidentally close a tab or press F5, don’t worry. The service makes it possible to return access to previous addresses:


  • Unlimited number of disposable boxes.
  • The ability to restore access.
  • Forwarding incoming to another address.
  • Multilingualism.
  • Bots for Telegram and Viber.
  • You cannot send messages.
  • Inbox from all addresses fall into one folder.
  • The address is tied to the browser tab.
  • Blocked by most filters.

Crazymailing

To access the full functionality you will have to register using any social network: Twitter, VK, Google+. After that, in addition to temporary mail, you will be able to send messages and use up to 10 emails at the same time. Each address has an individual validity time and message folders. The average user can add 10 minutes per click, registered users 30. Maximum time email service  does not limit.

  • Unlimited extension of time.
  • Sending messages.
  • Forwarding letters to real email.
  • Support for Russian and English.
  • Extension for Google Chrome.
  • 10 addresses per 1 account.
  • Full functionality only after registration.
  • Mail cannot be recovered.
  • Messages are sent with a long delay.
  • The maximum size of the sent file is 10 megabytes.

Mohmal

You can choose a random name or create one yourself. This allows you to give other people an address consisting of non-random letters and numbers. The duration of the action is static - 46 minutes, which can be reset to its original value any number of times.

  • Select an email name.
  • Multilingualism.
  • Ergonomic design.
  • No additional mailboxes.
  • No call forwarding.
  • It is necessary to constantly extend the time.

Minuteinbox

Best email service  among temporary ones, if you know English at least at a basic level. The main feature is user customization of work time.

In theory, this box can be used as a permanent one, if once a month to update the time of action. Each incoming message can be downloaded to a computer and opened with any email program: Microsoft Outlook, The Bat !, Lotus Notes, and so on.

  • Long action time.
  • User friendly interface.
  • There is no Russian language.
  • No call forwarding.

Permanent Email

To register the main accounts in social networks and online stores, to communicate with friends and acquaintances, and so on, it is better to use permanent mail. This allows you to easily restore access to your accounts if you forget your password, and receive up-to-date information on discounts and promotions. There are a lot of such services, so users prefer most popular postal services  for registration. Consider the most common domestic and foreign services.

Domestic services

At the moment, this is the most popular email service in the CIS. At the beginning of 2018, more than 20 million people used its services. To create an account, you must specify:

  • Name and surname. It is better to use real data so that later there are no problems with password recovery.
  • Date of birth. Better real.
  • Desired account name.
  • Password.
  • The current phone number to be confirmed.

If we talk about security, then the user can establish two-factor authentication and attach an additional box, which will also receive confirmation messages.

The interface has not changed since 2006, but more recently, on June 20, 2018, the Mail.ru team prepared a global update.

It is still in beta testing, but is already available to users at new.mail.ru. In addition to the new interface, the developers added a neural network to protect the account, the ability to pay fines from the traffic police, the Smart Groups system, which automatically sorts all incoming messages.

  • Simple and convenient interface.
  • Multilingualism.
  • Cloud storage and unlimited storage for letters.
  • Other email services  allow you to use your Mail.ru account as an additional one.
  • Ads and spam filters easily pass through.
  • Messages may arrive late.
  • You can’t register without a phone number.
  • Some emails are automatically sent to the Spam folder, even if there are no objective reasons for this.

Pros and cons relate to the old version, which will be changed in the near future. With the full release of the update, the information will be edited.

Yandex Mail

The second most popular postal service in the CIS. Registration is no different from Mail.ru. Among the features we highlight the ability to fully customize the interface for yourself - from the background to the location of buttons and folders on the page. Reliable email with good automatic filtering and sorting of incoming messages.

  • Fine-tuning the interface.
  • Timeline for finding emails.
  • Good spam protection.
  • The box size is limited (for new users - 10 gigabytes).
  • To register, you need a phone.
  • The interface looks a bit outdated.

"Email retirees"

In the past it was popular email servicesused by millions of people. But at the moment, morally and functionally outdated, which makes their use irrational. The decline in activity occurred in 2010-2014, so the interface in 99% of cases has not changed since those years. These include:

  • Ukr.net.
  • Rambler mail.
  • MetaMail.

If you have a mailbox from this list, we recommend creating a new one (on a different, more modern service) and setting up forwarding of all incoming to it. Otherwise, you risk losing all information if the service ceases to exist.

Foreign postal services

International mail services are quite different from domestic ones. In the beginning, this is not so noticeable, but after a few months you can already feel the difference. Especially when it comes to security and privacy. Let's look at specific examples.

A Gmail account is access to all Google programs and services. The capabilities and advantages of such an account are so vast that they deserve a separate article. Therefore, we focus only on the electronic box.

The standard interface is quite convenient, but you can always configure it as you wish. Registration is standard, but you can omit the phone number, which simplifies the registration process several times. After it, you get 20 gigabytes of cloud storage and unlimited mail space.

Security in Gmail is very high. If there is any suspicion that the mail is not used by the owner, the service sends a notification and asks for confirmation. This sounds like paranoia, but given the account’s close relationship with all of Google’s services, these are quite adequate precautions. For maximum security, it is advisable to enable two-factor authentication and configure an additional password recovery box.

  • Security.
  • Accurate spam and ad filtering.
  • Support for more than 80 languages.
  • Quick registration on most sites through your Gmail account.
  • Nobody likes Google+.
  • In a mobile application, alerts may come with a delay.

If you need mail for important personal matters, feel free to use Gmail. At the moment, this is the best service, if we talk about reliability and functionality.

Hotmail (Outlook)

Hotmail was a free email service with a total of more than 350 million users. In the early 2000s, Microsoft bought Hotmail, and after 2012 it became an Outlook service.

In 2017, a beta switch was added, allowing users to test the upcoming change in Outlook Mail. The updated version has faster mailing, an ergonomic interface and there is the ability to search for Emoji.

  • Poor spam filtering.
  • The mobile application is unstable.

Elite mailbox

By registering an email in a regular service, you can choose only a login, but not a domain name. No, there is a certain choice, but it is limited to 3-4 options. For example, you decide to create an account in Outlook. Then the address of your mailbox will be:

If you select the correct login, then the address looks good. But think about how many accounts in the world have the domain name “@ hotmail.com” or “@ outlook.com”. Thinking about it? Well, now imagine that you are the only person in the world with such a domain. Your messages will be recognized immediately, your email address is difficult to enter incorrectly, you want to do business with you. How to get a unique box?

The process itself is simple, but such an email will cost money. In most cases   paid mail services  used to create corporate (business) mail, but it is possible for personal use. There is no advertising in paid accounts, spam is reliably blocked, and security is at the highest level. The only negative inherent in most paid services is the lack of the Russian language.

We will not consider G Suite, Yandex.Mail for Domain, and other services that require the user to have their own domain, to which mail will be attached.

1and1

The most famous paid mail with millions of users. It provides services at several rates, the cheapest - $ 1 per month for the first year of use. For this money, you get your own domain name, as well as 2 gigabytes of space for letters.

  • Simple registration.
  • User friendly interface.
  • 24/7 support.
  • No ads or spam.
  • After a year, the cost of services will increase significantly.
  • There is no Russian language.

Fastmail

Leads top email services  with paid registration. You can choose from more than 40 domain names for $ 3 per month or your own for $ 5 per month. This is more expensive than other services, but there is a monthly Trial version.

  • There is no Russian language.
  • High price.

Runbox

Norwegian email launched in 2013. Data centers are located in Norway, which guarantees the non-disclosure of personal data by the service. A great choice if you work with confidential documents and / or information. You can pay only an annual subscription - from $ 20 for a regular account (1 gigabyte for mail, a domain from the list only) to $ 80 (25 gigabytes for mail, any email address, up to 25 mailboxes on the account).

  • Security and privacy.
  • Monthly Trial version.
  • Wide functionality.
  • User friendly interface.
  • No monthly payment.
  • There is no Russian language.

In the article we examined more than 10 postal services. Some are better, some are worse, but they are all reliable and trusted mail with a millionth audience. If you need an email account, you can choose any, but we recommend:

  1. Dropmail.me - temporary mail for registration.
  2. Gmail.com is a free email account covering all Google services.
  3. Fastmail.com is a paid email account for working and transferring important information.

The turn of mail has come. Which email service is Gmail, Yandex. Mail, Mail.ru or Yahoo Mail the most convenient and safe? To answer this question, we analyzed their functionality and reputation. News about crashes, leaks, phishing - nothing escaped the attention of our specialists.

4th place - Yahoo Mail

The company launched the mail service in 1997. In the early 2000s, Yahoo Mail grew to tens of millions of customers. By December 2011, 281 million people were using mail, which at that time was the third result in the world. However, in general, the company's affairs did not go so smoothly: Yahoo was in a long stagnation and began to negotiate with Verizon for sale.

In 2016, Verizon got a reason to bargain and bring down the price. Yahoo Mail has experienced two gigantic leaks in which 1.5 billion accounts have been merged. It would seem that the amount of merged is not the most striking in this story. However, in October 2017, Yahoo updated its previous message, which implies that more than 3.5 billion accounts were compromised.

Who stole all these arrays, how the invasions occurred, all this remained a mystery. It is only known that the incidents are not interconnected. In the first leak, which compromised 500 million accounts, the company blamed hackers, "Acting with the support of one of the states."  In the second - 3 billion merged accounts - “ unknown third party ". To at least somehow mitigate the consequences, a manual page was created for the victims. The joint work of PR specialists and technical support helped to stop a significant outflow of customers.

Hackers stole personal information, hashed passwords, secret questions and answers from users. For several years, criminals could log into compromised accounts. In addition, unreliable Yahoo! Mail was blocked in the US Congress because service filters let in more phishing messages than other mail service filters.

Rumors of leaks knocked down the price of the company. The initial transaction value with Verizon was $ 4.8 billion, but after the emergence of hacking information, Yahoo depreciated by $ 350 million. Although at the turn of the millennium, the company was valued at $ 100 billion.

In a period of particular vulnerability, in 2015, Yahoo Mail acquired two-factor authentication. With this protection method, an additional code is entered to enter the account, which is sent to the user by SMS or generated in the application. The desire to stay afloat is also confirmed by participation in the Bug Bounty program, in which Yahoo paid a premium of $ 14,000 for detecting a vulnerability in ImageMagick that could steal image files from email.

The company did not forget the victims of the 2013 leak. In October 2018, information appeared that Yahoo will pay $ 50 million to victims of data leakage. To receive compensation, you just need to prove that your personal data has indeed been stolen.

Yahoo Mail has nice features. Such an immense storage of incoming messages -1TB! - no other mail service has it. And in December 2017, the service pleased with the update, which reduced the amount of advertising. We give Yahoo Mail 4 place.

3rd place - Mail.ru

The resource Mail.ru appeared a year later than Yahoo, in 1998, and became the first mail service with a Russian-language interface. The monthly audience of Mail.ru, according to market research company TNS, is more than 25 million users. Mail.ru Group was often blamed for the annoying distribution of additional resources, and their mail - for the poor performance of anti-spam.

So, the Amigo browser was distributed in the installation packages of other mail products - users did not notice it and agreed to the installation. Mail.ru Group also disguised its browser as files of other applications. Hostility was sprayed by the difficult removal of Amigo - a background process was launched in the system that controlled the removal of software. If you try to remove the browser, it is automatically installed again - you had to change the Windows system settings.

In 2014, an open petition was filed with Roskomnadzor, as well as the management of Mail.ru Group and Yandex, demanding sanctions against companies that create virus-based self-installing software. Under the pressure of user dissatisfaction, the company opened a website for complaints and communication with technical support, but only in 2016.

Mail.ru is the leader in the CIS and the sixth worldwide service for the number of clients, therefore spammers of all stripes love it. In the 2000s, mail was scolded for the operation of spam filters. Therefore, the company entered the war with unwanted messages and even overdid it at some point. In 2014, an entry about magic anti-spam algorithms appeared on Habrahabr. It turned out that Mail.ru sent domains of honest senders to the black list.

Even at zero, the company understood that if you didn’t stop tons of spam, you could say goodbye to leadership. The first step in the fight was Kaspersky Anti-Spam paired with the Real-time blackhole list - a list of IP addresses associated with spammers. At first, the number of unwanted emails decreased, but the system was inert and needed to be upgraded. Then the company began to develop its own filtering tools - this is how Mail.Ru Anti-Spam Daemon appeared. The system is expanding and becoming more complicated, because according to information from 2016, it should check 350 thousand messages per minute.

Mail.ru’s compromised passwords were not in the hundreds of millions, but one nuisance happened. September 2014 went down in history as a month of a total drain of passwords for email services, among which 4.7 million data from Mail.ru users were highlighted. It is worth noting that this was not a targeted attack, but the result of a long collection of compromised accounts. The press service of Mail.ru reported that more than 95% of accounts " they are limited in sending mail, and we have long recommended that their owners change their password". To prevent criminals from using such databases, two-factor authentication is provided.

The company participates in the Bug Bounty program. So, on “Hacker” a case was described when a bug seeker came across a chain of vulnerabilities in Mail.Ru for Android, which led to a complete compromise of the contents of the mail and the SD card. Thanks to Bug Bounty, hackers will not take advantage of at least one vulnerability - for this we put plus Mail.Ru.

On June 20, 2018, for the first time in 10 years, Mail.Ru introduced service updates: the logo has changed and new features have been added, such as smart answers, the ability to transfer money, a message planner, etc. However, the shadow of old problems still obscures positive undertakings. therefore, put Mail.Ru in 3rd place.

2nd place - Yandex.Mail

The competitor of Mail.Ru - Yandex. Mail - is actively working in the CIS market and abroad. In June 2012, according to ComScore, Yandex email turned out to be the fastest growing in Europe and entered the top 5 in terms of popularity. The last mark on the Yandex.Statistics website indicates that in October 2018, the monthly audience of the service was 20 million people.

The company had its own “Amigo” - the notorious Yandex.Bar. It caused the same problems and annoyance as the mail product. Yandex.Bar is an extension that appears in your browser, and often unexpectedly. After all, it was installed, like Amigo, unnoticed, complete with other software. To remove such a gift was a difficult test for inexperienced users.

Yandex. Mail lit up in a massive drain in September 2014 - compromised passwords totaled 1.26 million. The press service of the company said that they know about 85% of accounts from this database: “ We warned their owners and sent them to change the password, but they did not. This means that such accounts are most likely abandoned or created by robots.».

To protect against those who want to use compromised passwords, two-factor authentication with Yandex is provided. The key is an application for Android and iOS that generates new one-time passwords. Yandex.Mail uses the Spamoborona service to detect spam, and Dr.Web checks the letters for viruses. The service protocol is protected: with a recent redesign, users switched to a secure HTTPS connection.

In the mail passive we will include periodic news of failures. In 2015, there was more than an hour of failure due to internal problems, and mail was not available throughout Russia. In December 2016, sending emails suddenly stopped working.

In the Yandex asset, we take care of the personal time of users. The mail support service learned to respond within 3 hours. We managed to speed up the process thanks to a robot that answers typical questions when you fill out a form.

Yandex is participating in a reward-seeking vulnerability program. The size of the award depends on the service on which the vulnerability was discovered. Services are divided into two groups: critical and all others, Yandex is also critical. Mail, where they pay from 5500 to 17000 rubles for a found bug.

And in March 2018, iOS and Android users got the opportunity to use the Gmail, Outlook and Mail.RU mailboxes through the Yandex.Mail application.

We note that the post office didn’t have any huge spam and spam problems, developers are actively engaged in improving it- and award her second place.

Top rated - Gmail

AT october 2018 gmail email service stated that it passed the mark in

Basic Requirements for a Good Email Service

Security

Virus protection, privacy and data protection

Spam filtering

The presence of effective spam filters.

Interface convenience

Convenient control panel, attractive design, accessibility and visibility of advanced options.

Drawer volume

The possibility of long-term storage of a sufficiently large amount of information

Translators and spell checker service

Having these features is especially important if you are communicating with representatives of other countries or conducting business correspondence.

Data backup, file storage, offline work.

These options are important to ensure the safety of your correspondence and received data.

The best mail ever. 10 most popular free services for receiving and sending mail

Gmail

Google Email Service

One of the most stable and reliable email services

Key features:
15GB integrated cloud file storage (but Gmail shares it with Google Photo, Google Drive, and other services that are part of the Google account)
One of the best algorithms for detecting and filtering spam.
Stable and reliable round-the-clock operation, practically without failures
Simple but smartly designed interface, convenient search for letters, message fragments
All messages are automatically divided into categories, such as "Basic", "Advertising", "Forums" and so on.
Intelligent privacy protection

POP and IMAP standards give Gmail access to any email program and device.
Gmail places contextual ads next to read emails.

Yandex mail service

Convenient and reliable mail.

Key features:

The service is equipped with an integrated anti-virus service from Dr.Web.

Able to translate letters from foreign languages \u200b\u200binto Russian.

Key Features:
unlimited box volume;
panel for managing other mailboxes;
access from any devices (tablets, smartphones, laptops);
built-in organizer;
a set of tools for processing letters (design, editing, checking).

Yandex.Mail can function as a full IMAP client.

Mail.ru

Mail.ru Mail Service

Key features:
good speed: a user performs a command in a split second;
convenient interaction with the remote Cloud file storage: the capacity of a personal disk can be 100 GB;
convenient marking of incoming messages;
multi-profile operation mode (the ability to work simultaneously with multiple boxes);
support for sending "heavy" files;
processing of uploaded images (size adjustment, viewing);
grouping messages

Outlook.com

Microsoft Email Service

Provides many features, especially for working in Microsoft Office.
A good option for an office worker.
This simple service, but in functionality it is not inferior to Gmail.
Key features:
Free 15 GB storage is provided (but it is shared between Office and OneCloud and other Microsoft services)
Synchronization with other repositories is provided.
All important messages are automatically highlighted and collected in one folder.
Invitations and event messages can be synchronized with the calendar.
There is built-in support for Skype, as well as access to Evernote, PayPal, GIPHY, Yelp, Uber and many others.

Also, Outlook.com can offer you help in writing a letter.

Yahoo! Mail

Yahoo! mail service

The service interface resembles Gmail, but the functionality is more modest. But there are relevant additions.
Key features:
There is a convenient filter for messages.
Provides synchronization with Facebook.
Import contacts from other services, such as Facebook, Gmail, Outlook, etc.
1 TB paid storage is available.
Support for other email accounts that support IMAP or POP standards.
dropbox cloud storage integration.

By its functionality, Yahoo is inferior to Gmail and Outlook.
At the same time, use Yahoo! very convenient: free form labeling and smart folders, spam filter works efficiently

Apple Mail Service

iCloud Mail is a free email from Apple with extensive memory, IMAP access and an interesting, functional web application.

With iCloud Mail, you can not only access your emails from any of your Apple devices, but you can also manage calendars and contacts and synchronize information.
If you receive an email, it will immediately be available on all your devices.

However, the iCloud.com interface does not offer shortcuts or other functions for productive work or organizing letters, and this service does not support access to other electronic services accounts.
Access to POP in iСloud.com is also absent.

Zoho mail

Business Oriented Mail Service

Zoho Mail offers an online office suite, document management and many collaboration tools and other add-ons that will be useful for corporate use.

Key features:
simultaneously supports up to 25 users in one domain
each of them has its own mailbox with 5 GB storage
offers online office suites

Zoho Mail is designed for professional users to become their assistant in the distribution of letters, identifying key messages and contacts and sending out templates of frequently used replies.

Rambler.ru

Rambler email service

Simple and intuitive service for working with mail.
However, the service cannot seriously compete with Gmail, Yandex Mail and Mail.ru.
It is less functional, the security issue remains open, the settings for serious work with a large amount of correspondence are clearly not enough.
The volume for storing letters is relatively small - the box is intended for sole use and Rambler mail can not offer anything to corporate clients.

Main advantages
  - fast registration and ease of management
- quick view of images: flipping photos in one motion
- the ability to collect mail from other services (Mail.ru, Yandex.Mail, Gmail, Qip.ru, Outlook)

You can log in to Rambler mail through profiles on social networks VKontakte, Facebook, LJ.

Inbox.com

Service developed by the Gmail team

Inbox is "a completely different type of mailbox designed to focus on what really matters." (phrase from the official Gmail blog).

The web service, as well as the mobile applications for Android and iOS Inbox, are aimed at improving productivity and organizing e-mail using several key functions.
Kits (bundles) collect emails of the same topic together, extract information about key details from messages, and reminders help users control when certain information appears.
Inbox helps you keep things under control and focus on what's important.

For the convenience of users, similar letters are grouped into categories, and the most important messages are displayed immediately. Any letter can be postponed for later and create a reminder for each case.
Inbox.com’s cloud storage doesn't have to delete emails to save space.

AIM Mail

AOL mail service (American media conglomerate)

AIM Mail (AOL Instant Messenger) is known as a free email service with unlimited online storage, very good spam protection and a rich, easy to use interface.

AIM Mail has spam protection and robust security features.
A rich interface simplifies the use of AIM Mail and integrates calendar, chat and social networks.
AIM Mail offers unlimited online email storage and access to POP or IMAP.

There is an AIM panel with a full list of friends, as well as built-in widgets that show the presence of friends online, as well as shortcut links to popular websites sponsored by AOL Instant Messenger.
However, AIM Mail has a slight lack of productivity (there are no shortcuts, smart folders, and comment text messages related to one topic or issue), but some of these spaces are filled with very functional IMAP and POP accesses.

The most reliable mail: 4 most reliable mail services

These services can be used as additional, in cases where privacy and security issues are most important to you.

What are the criteria for choosing a reliable mail?

Reliability is determined by the following factors:
1. Protection of mail from hacking and interception by third parties.
2. Confidentiality - protecting information from the developers themselves.
3. The refusal of developers to cooperate with special services.

Protonmail

Secure mail from Switzerland

The company has extensive experience and has earned a good reputation in providing a secure platform for users, especially journalists interested in a high level of confidentiality.

Used technologies
End-to-end encryption
Messages are stored on ProtonMail servers in an encrypted format. They are also transmitted in encrypted format between servers and user devices.
Encrypted user data is not available for the administration of the service
Data is encrypted on the client side using an encryption key, which the administration does not have access to. (For this reason, it is impossible to perform data recovery on the service if, for example, you forgot your password).
Time-tested and strong encryption algorithms
Only secure implementations of AES, RSA, as well as OpenPGP are used.
In addition, all cryptographic libraries used are open source. The use of open source libraries ensures that the encryption algorithms that the service uses do not have hidden built-in functions.

The company offers a free Proton VPN VPN service for Android, iOS, MacOS and Windows platforms to combat Internet censorship, which allows you to bypass restrictions and gain access to blocked sites.

ProtonMail also provides the world's first encrypted contact manager, ProtonMail Contacts, which aims to protect user data using encryption and digital signature functions.

Mailfence

Email Encryption Service from Belgium

Mailfence offers OpenPGP-based end-to-end encryption, which ensures that messages sent and received between the user and the recipient are not read by anyone else. The user can also access the Mailfence account using SMTP and IMAP using any email client.

Belgium has strict privacy laws. Under Belgian law, all national and international supervisory requests must go through a Belgian court.

Additional features of Mailfence:
OpenPGP - end-to-end encryption (supports PGP / MIME and embedded PGP)
Offers SPF, DKIM, TFA, anti-spam and blacklisted users.
Integrated keystore
Full compatibility with OpenPGP
Two-factor authentication

Countermail

Secure mail service from Switzerland

CoutnerMail provides end-to-end encryption, making it impossible for hackers to read your email.
The service has more than 4000 types of encryption keys.

The company does not store email data on the server or hard drives. This means that attackers will not be able to track emails, so there can be no talk of data leakage.
CounterMail also guarantees protection from government data surveillance.

Additional features of CounterMail:
Integrated Security
Diskless Web Servers
USB dongle option
MITM attack defense (middle man)
Android and iOS apps

Tutanota

Secure mail from Germany

Tutanota provides open source end-to-end encrypted email and provides a secure Freemium-based email service designed to protect user correspondence.
Since Tutanota is based on an open source model, its development is faster than many other similar services.

Additional features of Tutanota:
End-to-end encryption
Open source
Android and iOS apps
Users can send and receive encrypted messages from regular email users.

E-mail is not only a convenient tool for exchanging information, but also a source of threats to your data and your reputation.

Without e-mail, communication in the modern world is already unthinkable. But many are treated very lightly with this achievement of scientific and technological progress. Meanwhile, the email address often identifies the user on the network. Those. use this address as the username. On many sites (social networks, forums, etc.), it is proposed to enter an e-mail address as a login or bind it to an account. If the password is lost, a link to its recovery is sent to the specified email address. What an attacker will certainly take advantage of if he gets access to your mail. Then the attacker will be able to act on your behalf in the social. networks, forums and other resources. Someone will place orders for you, issue subscriptions, etc. Therefore, you must pay attention to the points listed below.

  1. The choice of mail service. Keep in mind that free email resources are not reliable. As a rule, they provide special services with access to users' mails without any orders. This is especially true for ru domain services. Of the free options, opt for gmail.com or outlook. com (mail from Microsoft is a very worthy replacement for Gmail).
  2. 2-step verification A number of email services provide two-step authentication for reliability. Those. In addition to the password, you need to enter the code sent by SMS. For gmail.com this option is activated through account settings  on the tab Security.
  3. Choosing a strong password. Each mailbox must have its own strong, crack-resistant password. You can . It is convenient to use a password manager for these purposes, for example. Some people use the same password for all mailboxes. They also indicate it as a password when registering on a web resource along with the corresponding email address. Such frivolity will be very expensive.
  4. Preference of your own security question when registering for the mail service.
  5. Using only one mailing address when registering on sites. This will protect all your other mailboxes from spam and potential crackers.
  6. The use of disposable mailboxes when registering on sites that you do not trust or that you intend to use for a short time.
  7. The presence of a reliable antivirus and firewall on the computer. E-mails are good distributors of malware. Therefore, high-quality protective software when working with mail will not be redundant.
  8. Launching the browser when working with correspondence on the mail server.
  9. Reasonable behavior. Even having good security programs may not save you if you open attachments and follow links in letters from strangers.
  10. Required session termination. After finishing work on the mail service, before closing the tab with the site, do not forget to click on Go out,so that no one after you could be authorized to enter.
  11. When transferring confidential data, be sure to encrypt messages. Remember that everything trusted by the Internet can be stored for years. It is simply impossible to destroy some information. To use gmail.com, you can use the extension for the Google Chrome browser called GPG4Browsers. In addition to encrypting and decrypting letters in this program, you can create and verify digital signatures for letters.
  12. To authenticate your letters, use an electronic digital signature (EDS). EDS - in its essence and functions - is an analogue of the usual man-made signature.

In 2013, Edward Snowden confirmed what so many suspected: state governments were watching you. Intelligence services monitor your traffic and create digital profiles of your network habits. Unfortunately, they are not the only ones interested in your data. Hackers and cybercriminals are also not averse to intercepting your personal information. In addition, free email services can also track your emails and contacts to show you targeted ads.

According to the Breach Level Index, more than 13 million accounts have leaked or been compromised in various incidents since 2013. Of these 13 million, the vast majority, namely 96%, were not encrypted. What method do hackers use to hack accounts, steal personal data or disclose confidential information?

Email

E-mail is a very “ancient” technology compared to modern communication solutions, which has many technical limitations. The advanced age of technology adversely affects security. Fortunately for 4 billion email users, many security developers and researchers are working to improve older technology so that it remains viable and relatively safe in an era of fast and intelligent attacks.

Let's look at a few secure email services and highlight their key security benefits.

  ProtonMail (web service, Android, iOS)

  • Price:Free (up to 150 messages per day). There are paid accounts
  • Storage:500 MB for free. Up to 20 GB in paid accounts.
  • Server Locations:  Switzerland

The start of the ProtonMail project took place in 2013. The service was originally developed by CERN researchers through a crowdfunding program. The beta phase of ProtonMail ended in March 2016. This service is open source and uses end-to-end encryption, so messages are encrypted on the user's side, and the data cannot be decrypted by your employer or anyone else.

Since the service predominantly offers free accounts, a reasonable question arises as to where the funds for maintaining the postal service come from. ProtonMail makes it clear that the project has its own financial fund, which is able to maintain the service for a year without any other investments.

Benefits of ProtonMail

All user data is stored on servers in Switzerland. This European country is well known for its tough position regarding privacy and data protection. A very important security benefit is the open source ProtonMail. Closed and proprietary software cannot be analyzed by anyone, so you should blindly trust the developer. Open source services can be tested for security by any researcher or competent person.

Although emails to other ProtonMail users are protected by end-to-end encryption, when interacting with unencrypted services such as Gmail, ProtonMail scans these messages and protects them from spam. However, these messages are scanned in memory, which means they are not saved and will be overwritten in a very short time. Immediately after verification, the email will be encrypted.

According to ProtonMail's privacy policy, IP address registration is disabled by default, although you can force it on if you wish. This behavior can significantly improve privacy, because in this case, the leakage of your location by IP address is prevented. ProtonMail does not save your data during deletion. If you delete the message, it will really disappear. The only exception is when the data was backed up, in this case, it may take up to 14 days to completely delete it.

To register with ProtonMail you do not need to provide any personal information, although you can specify an additional email address to restore access. ProtonMail supports Ephemeral messaging - messaging that, when read, disappears forever. This concept is also used in the Telegram messenger.

  TutaNota (web service, Android, iOS)

  • Price:
  • Storage:  1 GB for free. Expandable storage in paid accounts.
  • Server Locations:  Germany

The Tutanota mail service from the German company Tutao GmbH was launched in 2011 using the freemium model - i.e. basic functionality is available for free. The name is not accidental - in translation from Latin “tuta nota” means “safe message”. The service servers are also located in Germany, which makes them subject to the strict German data protection law of Germany. However, the reputation was tarnished by reports that the German Federal Intelligence Service collaborated with the NSA in its surveillance programs.

Benefits of TutaNota

In any case, Tutanota makes a very attractive and safe service. By and large, the TutaNota feature set pretty much follows the ProtonMail features. The service uses end-to-end encryption to ensure the inability to view mail on servers. If you send a message to a Gmail user, then Tutanota sends a link to a temporary account where the recipient can view the encrypted message.

Tutanota is also an open source project - all code is posted on Github. At the moment, the service does not encrypt metadata associated with stored messages, for example, the sender, recipient, and date. Developers plan to add such a feature in the future.

Tutanota uses 2048-bit RSA encryption and 128-bit AES encryption. However, currently the service does not support PGP, although there are plans to develop an API for interacting with PGP encryption. Tutanota logs exclusively with technical information, warnings and error messages. The developers declare that none of the magazines contains personal information and is stored only for 14 days.

Tutanota can be used for free, but to get advanced features, you need to purchase a Premium account. For one euro per month, you can add up to 5 aliases, use your own domain and set up rules for incoming messages.

  Mailfence (web service)

  • Price:Is free. There are paid accounts
  • Storage:250 MB for mail and 250 MB for documents for free.
  • Server Locations:Belgium.

Information is important

If during registration you see a message We temporarily do not take new registrations, then use VPN for registration, for example, the Browsec VPN plugin. In some countries, including Russia, registration is limited.

The Mailfence service was developed by the creators of the ContactOffice virtual office. Mailfence includes encryption and privacy features and is offered for free use. Following Snowden's revelations in 2013, the ContactOffice team felt the need for a secure and confidential email platform. As in many European countries, Belgium adheres to strict data protection legislation, which puts the user in priority over the interests of companies.

Benefits of Mailfence

ContactOffice was launched in 1999, so MailFence developers have enough experience and knowledge in developing the service. Experience over the years leads to one of the key benefits of Mailfence. The service offers safe work not only with mail, but also with the calendar, contacts and document storage. Although the company sells a Premium account, most of the money comes from licensing software for companies and educational institutions. Unfortunately, the source code of Mailfence is closed for inspection, so using the service, you have to trust the slogans of the development company, indicated on the official website.

ContactOffice donates 15% of the sales of Pro accounts to the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) and the European Digital Rights Foundation (EDRi). Privacy laws in Belgium dictate that you provide access to data when a court decision is made. However, any external authority does not have the right to access data.

Mailfence uses end-to-end encryption and supports OpenPGP. You can create a key on your computer, which will then be encrypted using the 256-bit AES algorithm and stored on Mailfence servers. Two-factor authentication is also supported to prevent unauthorized access to your account.

One of the major drawbacks of Mailfence is the lack of a mobile application. If you want to sync with your mobile device, the only option is to use Microsoft's Exchange ActiveSync. If you decide to upgrade to a Pro account, you can also use POPS, IMAPS, and SMTPS.

  SCRYPTmail (web service)

  • Price:  Trial version 7 days for free. Paid accounts only
  • Storage:  $ 2 per month for 300 MB storage. Storage can be increased to 1 GB for $ 7 per month.
  • Server Locations:  USA

SCRYPTmail is a web-based email service with robust security features. The service offers end-to-end encryption and two-factor authentication and, in addition, has open source code, freely available for security auditing. SCRYPTmail servers are located in the United States.

One of the interesting features offered by SCRYPTmail is the function of hiding your real email address from recipients. Disposable email addresses can be used in cases where contact details need to be provided to a person or organization whose legality and safety of actions you are not sure about. You no longer need to register a temporary account, which reduces the risk of misuse of your contact information.

SCRYPTmail is a full-featured and reliable service with a high level of security and transparency that is hard to beat. However, some competitors offer the same level of security with better documentation (ProtonMail), usability (Tutanota) and value for money (Posteo).

  Posteo (web service)

  • Price:  Paid accounts only
  • Storage:  1 euro per month for a storage facility of 2 GB.
  • Server Locations:  Germany

For just $ 1 a month, Posteo offers 2 gigabytes of secure email storage. The repository is completely anonymous and is protected by two-factor authentication. Posteo servers are located in Germany, and the main values \u200b\u200bof the service are confidentiality, usability and stability.

Like many special privacy tools, Posteo has become popular with the public after being exposed by Edward Snowden. Posteo was the first email service to launch DNS authentication of addressing objects (DANE) on its servers to protect users from hackers who impersonate themselves or their email recipients. In other words, DANE allows you to protect yourself from MITM attacks or “man in the middle” attacks, which are described in detail in the NSA's disclosed documents.

Posteo not only refuses to collect the personal data of its customers, but also regularly conducts a legal struggle for the right not to transfer user data to the authorities.

Their 2017 transparency report shows that Posteo received 48 requests for user data and “removal” of the mailbox from German and international authorities, and three requests were successful. However, Posteo does not store the user's credentials or IP address, so any seized email content cannot be officially associated with the user.

Posteo encrypts all data sent through the service server when it is on the go or at rest, but does not offer automatic end-to-end encryption like in ProtonMail and Tutanota.

This means that any intercepted communication can be read in plain text by an attacker (although Posteo largely negates this risk using the DANE function).

Since Posteo does not use end-to-end encryption, the service account can be added to standard email applications in iOS and Android.

  Kolab Now (web service)

  • Price:  Paid accounts only
  • Storage:  for individual accounts, 4.41 dollars per month for 2 GB. Expandable space up to 10 GB
  • Server Locations:  Switzerland

Kolab Now is a safe alternative for G Suite and Office 365.

The service offers email service, calendar, contacts and file storage. Kolab Now is positioning itself as a secure alternative to G Suite and Office 365.

Kolab Now was developed for the Federal Office of Internet Security in Germany and was mainly used in Germany until it attracted media attention after leaks by the NSA. The founder of the human rights resource Groklaw Pamela Jones said that she switched to the Kolab Now email address on the same day she closed the site in 2013:

If you need to use the Internet, my research shows that Kolab can be used to protect against e-mail tracking. Kolab servers are located in Switzerland, which means they are not subject to the laws of other countries. The service is trying to provide citizens with more privacy.

The Kolab Now service is fully open source and offers advanced security features. Although it does not offer end-to-end encryption (outside the client computer), Kolab Now supports perfect forward security (PFS) protocols, i.e. that the encryption keys are ephemeral - if the encrypted content falls into the wrong hands, it will not be possible to use it with a key other than the key that was used in a particular session.

To access mail from mobile devices, you can use the web interface through your device’s browser or connect Kolab Now to your POP3 / IMAP client, for example, to iOS Mail. Kolab Now also supports SMTP, CalDav and WebDAV, so if your organization’s systems are already integrated with one of these protocols, this will be a definite plus.

  mailbox.org (web service)

  • Price:  Trial version 30 days for free. Paid accounts only
  • Storage:  from 1 euro for 2 GB of email storage and 100 MB of cloud storage
  • Server Locations:  Germany

The time-tested secure email service mailbox.org is under the control of privacy journalist Peer Heinlein. Peer began his career in secure network services back in 1989. In this case, you need to worry about handing your inbox to a shaky startup - mailbox.org has stood the test of time.

The mailbox.org servers are located in Germany and are subject to favorable privacy laws, but this is not the only advantage of the service. mailbox.org is dedicated to anonymity: a user can register an account without entering personal information using Bitcoin, using its own Tor node chain. Mail headers are also anonymous to hide the location of users' devices and their recipients.

Like Mailfence and ProtonMail, mailbox.org is compatible with OpenPGP, which allows users to send encrypted mail even to recipients who do not use mailbox.org. In this case, emails will appear in a special guest inbox, and the recipient of the message will be able to reply to him via a one-time link. This approach uses Tutanota to solve the communication problem outside of your encrypted network (with users of Gmail or other services that work with plain text).

Keep Secrets Secure

Many free email services either weakly protect your privacy, or even take steps to undermine it. Finding a secure and encrypted service is an important step. When making the final decision, you must consider the encryption method used, the source of funding for the service, and the location of the servers.

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