Security News

ProtonMail is urging its Russian user base to hurry up and renew their subscriptions before it is too late, as multiple payment processing services including Mastercard, Visa, American Express, and PayPal, are exiting the Russian market. ProtonMail is a provider of privacy-centric and end-to-end encrypted email services to millions around the world.

ProtonMail has introduced an enhanced email tracking protection system for its web-based email solution that prevents senders from being tracked by recipients who open their messages. ProtonMail is an end-to-end encrypted email service based in Switzerland and uses a client-side encryption approach to maintain user privacy and protect their communications from snooping intermediaries.

Encrypted email provider Protonmail has hailed a recent Swiss legal ruling as a "Victory for privacy," after winning a lawsuit that sees it exempted from data retention laws in the mountainous realm. Referring to a previous ruling that exempted instant messaging services from data capture and storage laws, the Protonmail team said this week: "Together, these two rulings are a victory for privacy in Switzerland as many Swiss companies are now exempted from handing over certain user information in response to Swiss legal orders."

After being compelled by a Swiss court to monitor IP logs for a particular user, ProtonMail no longer claims that “we do not keep any IP logs.”

Privacy-centric communications specialist Proton, best known for its ProtonMail encrypted email platform, has announced the appointment of web daddy Sir Tim Berners-Lee to its advisory board. "I'm delighted to join Proton's advisory board and support Proton on their journey," Sir Tim said of the appointment.

The privacy-hugging, end-to-end encryption-providing email provider ProtonMail was forced to log the IP address of a French activist and turn it over to Europol, according to a French police report that came to light over the weekend. French police sent a request to Swiss police via Europol and thus managed to force the company to hand over the IP address and device details of the French activist.

Encrypted email service ProtonMail has become embroiled in a minor scandal after responding to a legal request to hand over a user's IP address and details of the devices he used to access his mailbox to Swiss police - resulting in the user's arrest. Police were executing a warrant obtained by French authorities and served on their Swiss counterparts through Interpol, according to social media rumours that ProtonMail chief exec Andy Yen acknowledged to The Register.

End-to-end encrypted email service provider ProtonMail has drawn criticism after it ceded to a legal request and shared the IP address of anti-gentrification activists with law enforcement authorities, leading to their arrests in France. The Switzerland-based company said it received a "Legally binding order from the Swiss Federal Department of Justice" related to a collective called Youth for Climate, which it was "Obligated to comply with," compelling it to handover the IP address and information related to the type of device used by the group to access the ProtonMail account.

An EU-sponsored GDPR advice website run by Proton Technologies had a vulnerability that let anyone clone it and extract a MySQL database username and password. "The irony of a EU-funded website about GDPR having security issues isn't lost on us," mused the security consultancy.

Over the coming weeks, a new alternative routing feature will become available across all of the ProtonMail and ProtonVPN mobile and desktop applications, the company says. "While we have largely been able to overcome censorship and attacks, it's imperative that we remain one step ahead of those who would seek to spy on people and restrict the freedom of information. Alternative routing is an additional capability which helps us ensure users can access our services," Proton says.