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Until they are decrypted in this way, the messages are not readable. Then, they only need to put in the password to open your message through their normal inbox. Messages sent between two ProtonMail users are automatically encrypted using the recipient’s key, so they can be opened as soon as the user logs in.īut ProtonMail can also be used to communicate securely with users of other e-mail clients.Īll you have to do is set a password for your encryption key and give it to the intended recipient. And only the devices belonging to the sender and the intended recipient have that key. The only way to make that readable again is with the correct encryption key. This means that when you type a message in ProtonMail and click “send,” its content is scrambled to make it unreadable. The main selling point for this e-mail client is end-to-end encryption. Read on to understand more about how ProtonMail works and to find out whether you should use it. It was launched by employees of the European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN), specifically in response to news about the National Security Agency’s (NSA) data collection activities. ProtonMail was designed to provide an alternative to this model. When they’re just sitting on the e-mail provider’s server, they can easily be read by anyone who gains access to that server. And even when they are, it is typically just while they’re being sent. Messages sent with those clients are rarely encrypted. The setup of ordinary mail clients creates vulnerabilities that can be exploited by hackers and government agencies. E-mail clients are designed to extract keywords from your conversations and use them to choose targeted ads for you.Īside from this, there’s a real danger of more malicious spying. But there’s a reason why these services are free. There may not be an actual human being spying on you when you use a familiar e-mail client. Their approach to encryption even prevents ProtonMail itself from reading what it sends and stores for you.
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