Proton Mail integrates secure email into a primarily web based email service. That’s deliberate because Microsoft would prefer to push customers to proprietary alternatives rather than streamline standard email encryption. The implementation is very clumsy and difficult to use. Only a few email programs support encryption, including MS Outlook for Windows (not the Outlook apps or ). To anyone else, the email looks unreadable text with a small attachment.Īny email account (Fastmail, Gmail, etc) can store encrypted mail but has to be connected to an email program, like Outlook for Windows, which supports encrypting/decrypting messages. Only the receiver (who has the vital ‘private’ key) can unscramble the email to read it. The encrypted email uses the receivers public key to scramble the message. Their email address (obviously) and their public key.

To encrypt an email you need two things from the receiver. There are variations in terms of the exact type and complexity of the encryption but the fundamentals are the same. Secure Emailįor many years, there’s been a standard way to encrypt emails. Their service is entirely open source, which is a very good thing. Proton Mail is OK but nothing special technically. Proton Mail is an option to consider if you’re looking for secure email messaging but it’s not as easy to use as some instant messaging services available. How does it compare with standard email using Microsoft Outlook for Windows?

Proton Mail is a secure email service run from Switzerland.

Personal proton email address