SCRYPTmail vs. Hushmail vs ProtonMail

EQ Admin

EQ Forum Admin
Staff member
What are the differences between SCRYPTmail, Hushmail, and ProtonMail?

Any other encrypted email services that should be considered in the comparison?

Did you make the switch to one of these services? Why?

Why should I use an encrypted email service? | Email Questions

Did you make the move from a popular free email service?

SCRYPTmail vs Gmail vs Yahoo vs Outlook | Email Questions

If you tried any of these services but felt they were lacking, what features do you think they need to implement?

SCRYPTmail feature requests | Email Questions
 
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Rockman

Valued Member
Hello popowich,

I have not used Hushmail, but I've read their website over and researched them. I passed because their service is feature-constrained and proprietary. I was just not interested.

I've had a Protonmail account since it was in pre-beta and I helped the guys out with some early bugs and feedback. It was nice to get personal responses and actual fixes made from my direct feedback. It felt good to help them out. However, given their team size and budget, the number of features they have delivered is eclipsed by Sergei with SCRYPTmail.

I have had a SCRYPTmail account since Sergei made his service public beta. We've exchanged many emails over bugs and features, again, with personal responses and feedback delivered as product updates. It is my pleasure to help "beta" test. I've even survived a total account wipe-out and re-creation - I was not chased away by the major bugs. :) I am continually impressed with the number of features and velocity Sergei has sign-handedly delivered. Including help pages and blog updates, looking past the grammar mistakes, shows he is very busy and passionate about his work.

I'll repeat what I've posted on another forum... I believe competition in this space should not be driven to win the most users of proprietary secure email services, but to compete on features, UI, usability and interoperability of secure email services.

Have I performed a code review of any public code of these services? No, I am not qualified to review crypto code, but I understand how the technology all works. I can use browser tools to see where connections go and their content - where possible. I can trace code to see what's going on, but I cannot validate any of the encryption routines.

That said, I've read this article about javascript cryptography. Matasano Security - Matasano Web Security Assessments for Enterprises You my want to fire-up a new topic to discuss that one. I'm interested in what the developers, like Sergei, have to say.

Cheers
 

SCRYPTmail

Email Service Provider
Hello popowich,

I have not used Hushmail, but I've read their website over and researched them. I passed because their service is feature-constrained and proprietary. I was just not interested.

I've had a Protonmail account since it was in pre-beta and I helped the guys out with some early bugs and feedback. It was nice to get personal responses and actual fixes made from my direct feedback. It felt good to help them out. However, given their team size and budget, the number of features they have delivered is eclipsed by Sergei with SCRYPTmail.

I have had a SCRYPTmail account since Sergei made his service public beta. We've exchanged many emails over bugs and features, again, with personal responses and feedback delivered as product updates. It is my pleasure to help "beta" test. I've even survived a total account wipe-out and re-creation - I was not chased away by the major bugs. :) I am continually impressed with the number of features and velocity Sergei has sign-handedly delivered. Including help pages and blog updates, looking past the grammar mistakes, shows he is very busy and passionate about his work.

I'll repeat what I've posted on another forum... I believe competition in this space should not be driven to win the most users of proprietary secure email services, but to compete on features, UI, usability and interoperability of secure email services.

Have I performed a code review of any public code of these services? No, I am not qualified to review crypto code, but I understand how the technology all works. I can use browser tools to see where connections go and their content - where possible. I can trace code to see what's going on, but I cannot validate any of the encryption routines.

That said, I've read this article about javascript cryptography. Matasano Security - Matasano Web Security Assessments for Enterprises You my want to fire-up a new topic to discuss that one. I'm interested in what the developers, like Sergei, have to say.

Cheers

I know, right? Sometimes budget and big team really do slow you down, you have to go through all obstacles, convince people this is most important than other, after that discuss all pluses and minuses, finally get some beer and go over it again. Next thing you realize that budget is thin, and bar next door is making renovation they wasn't able to do in the last 15 years.
Being single headed I don't have such privilege and have to proof my performance by delivering features :) Don't get me wrong, I like beer and nice bar chat, but I always find myself in computer chair after midnight.

I've read those article when I just start to write SCRYPTmail, it should be fun to point in how many places his statements are false.
 

Rockman

Valued Member
One more thing related to Hushmail that is a negative, they require a phone number to send an SMS for sign-up. Why?
 

SCRYPTmail

Email Service Provider
Patriot Act is about to expire. June 2, it will be pretty important day for all of us. Leting this act to expire will bring us closer to world dominance in encrypted email service, as most feature rich and secured service!
 

compleo

Valued Member
What are the differences between SCRYPTmail, Hushmail, and ProtonMail?

I never tried hush mail but do recall people complaining about it.I'm no e mail expert so not quite sure as to the differences.

====================

Any other encrypted email services that should be considered in the comparison?

I've been using safe mail for years without any issues,the freebie version which has storage of 3MB if this is an issue for anyone...Safe-mail.net

I also use "Tutanota" if anyone has any feedback regarding this.

====================

Did you make the switch to one of these services? Why?
Did you make the move from a popular free email service?

I researched as much info as i could.My primary reason for leaving the high profile/high target e mail programs is privacy.My objective was to find at least one e mail program that was safe from the long arms of others,point being,i wanted a dedicated e mail program to use just for sensitive info,such as banks,CC etc.The dedicated e mail i use is never shared with anyone,never register on web sites,never use it to send e mail, etc.The only ones who know the e mail addy are the companies i deal with for sensitive info I i just used the e mail addy to register & receive alerts.This way there is less of a chance of being compromised.I'm not 100% sure if this is the right approach?

====================

If you tried any of these services but felt they were lacking, what features do you think they need to implement?

The only e mail program i have an issue with is proton.For some reason i'm not able to receive alerts from web sites i use for sensitive info.I contacted tech support,& well...lol.This went on for at least a month so i contacted Proton to see if they knew the answer.They were very respectful but they don't seem to know the answer.Between the web site & proton i spent at least 2 months but to no avail.
 

EQ Admin

EQ Forum Admin
Staff member
Hi compleo,

I've been using safe mail for years without any issues,the freebie version which has storage of 3MB if this is an issue for anyone...Safe-mail.net

There is a member contributed safe mail review, maybe you have more to add? Safe Mail Review | Email Questions

The only e mail program i have an issue with is proton.For some reason i'm not able to receive alerts from web sites i use for sensitive info.I contacted tech support,& well...lol.This went on for at least a month so i contacted Proton to see if they knew the answer.They were very respectful but they don't seem to know the answer.Between the web site & proton i spent at least 2 months but to no avail.

I can see where this could be an issue for some services. Depending how much they intentionally don't log it could be difficult for support to investigate "missing email" problems.

In general it's easier to start with the sender. Did you try contacting the bank and asking them to check for the mail log related to the email to Proton Mail and see if it was accepted for delivery or not?
 

compleo

Valued Member
In general it's easier to start with the sender. Did you try contacting the bank and asking them to check for the mail log related to the email to Proton Mail and see if it was accepted for delivery or not?

I contacted tech support,& well...lol.This went on for at least a month

Big companies don't care,all i get is canned responses,such as check spam,is it a valid e mail,etc.
 

EQ Admin

EQ Forum Admin
Staff member
@ProtonMail,

Can you please list the conditions, if any, that would cause your system to reject an email and not allow it to make it to at least the spam folder of a user?

Reputation score too low, invalid sending domain, anything about an email such as certain types of "dangerous" file extensions, etc?

ProtonMail uses open source software including SpamAssassin. Sometimes that content filtering scores banking email harshly if money amounts are listed in the email.

Are you able to check for a mail log within a certain time period if a user requests help?
 

compleo

Valued Member
Any other encrypted email services that should be considered in the comparison?

I forgot one,i'm new to it & not satisfied so far.Security is a well & good but it seems that a user doesn't have the option to use it a regular web mail.The only option,at least to my knowledge is using "keys'..."lavaboom".
 

compleo

Valued Member
I also noticed that Proton & Lavaboom doesn't have the option for users to delete the account.This strikes me as odd,i never heard of this.
 

EQ Admin

EQ Forum Admin
Staff member
I also noticed that Proton & Lavaboom doesn't have the option for users to delete the account.

Nice observation. I added "Delete Account" to the encrypted email features comparison page. I agree users of the private/encrypted services should have the option to delete their account.

We might also want to capture how long data exists in backups. For example, users can delete their SCRYPTmail account, and the encrypted data will no longer exist in backups within 7 days.
 
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compleo

Valued Member
I'm still waiting for my account to be approved and for the owner to confirm their features.

I sent Lavaboom an e mail many days age but still no response.What does this reveal regarding any present or future support.To my knowledge there is no option to use Lavaboom as regular webmail,which is what my question was about.Not sure about anyone else,my primary interest is usability.
 

EQ Admin

EQ Forum Admin
Staff member
Did you ever receive a response to your email? Did you check your spam folder for replies?
 

compleo

Valued Member
Did you ever receive a response to your email? Did you check your spam folder for replies?

I received a response but am unable to read (don't understand the key system) it so i don't know if the response is to my question.So i re sent my question using an e mail without keys but to no avail.Nothing in spam,even if there was i would not be able to read it.
 
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