I wonder if anyone still wants to know...
I'm doing freelance work for Swisscows and they told me that Protonmail has a master key to unlock any encrypted data...

How did they find out about that?

I wonder how it compares with Protonmail.

That's what I use.  I keep a gmail account and use it for my junk e-mail.

I wonder if anyone still wants to know...
I'm doing freelance work for Swisscows and they told me that Protonmail has a master key to unlock any encrypted data. With Swisscows this doesn't exist, so even the meanest of governments could force them at gunpoint to surrender data, and still they wouldn't be able to.

https://proton.me/support/organization-key

Thanks for checking it out. You created a new account just to check it out? That is above and beyond the call of duty. 

I probably wont use it, i just thought i would check it out as i was bored.

Protonmail is a lot better imo.

LU344928 wrote:

Last July Protonmail underwent and passed an independent security audit so presumably security should not be such a worry.

last august : https://arstechnica.com/information-tec … thorities/

Now you mention it I do recall hearing about that.

Thing is, if Protonmail can be forced to reveal a client's IP then so can Swisscows. But that's not an everyday scenario: an order must be issued by a Swiss court.

For the average user who just wants some measure of privacy then it seems to me it's a better choice than Gmail, Yahoo, etc., which I believe scan all emails as a matter of routine.

If someone is engaged in activities which are bound to attract the authorities' attention, in this case it was an environmental activist, then in addition to encrypted email they really should be using tor browser or a vpn or even both.

Last July Protonmail underwent and passed an independent security audit so presumably security should not be such a worry.

last august : https://arstechnica.com/information-tec … thorities/

disclaimer, haven't used any of these, just read their features/faq since "can't read user email" drove my curiosity. so, from a fast glimpse,
swisscows seems to use mailvelope addon for browsers for their roundcube webmail (gpg encryption), so both sending/receiving parties need to exchange keys first.. not very user friendly, but they might have good documentation/guides about it, don't know.
good thing, encryption is done on user's machine, not on swisscows, bad thing, it uses javascript opengpg which is not considered very secure by what i've been reading around.
protonmail uses server encryption (inhouse AES or dovecot mail_crypt perhaps? not sure) and also has gpg support, so bad thing they have the encryption keys for the server (if i understand it correctly), good thing -if you trust them- everything is encrypted by default..  they also have these encrypted attachments links which is interesting.. and also encrypted messages expirations.

both based in CH, both use FOSS, both supposedly care about privacy.
communication wise i think they both will be using latest secure ciphers for smtp/imap/pop3, and tbh i think everything else is pretty much the same.
so, i'd say protonmail has a more user friendly encryption scheme (but maybe limited to paying customers only?), while swisscows gives the opportunity to use gpg.. but not out of the box (?).

just 2c.

Last July Protonmail underwent and passed an independent security audit so presumably security should not be such a worry.

LU344928 wrote:

I wonder how it compares with Protonmail.

That's my biggest wonder as Protonmail is what I currently use.

Interesting... why are you thinking about switching? Security concerns? Not enough storage on the basic account?

I say interesting because I also use Protonmail.

both based in CH, both use FOSS, both supposedly care about privacy.
communication wise i think they both will be using latest secure ciphers for smtp/imap/pop3, and tbh i think everything else is pretty much the same.
so, i'd say protonmail has a more user friendly encryption scheme (but maybe limited to paying customers only?), while swisscows gives the opportunity to use gpg.. but not out of the box (?).

just 2c.

I wonder how it compares with Protonmail.

That's my biggest wonder as Protonmail is what I currently use.