SecurityĪll communication with ScryptMail’s servers happens via TLS/SSL (HTTPS), and the firm says it implements HSTS to mitigate against Man in the Middle attacks, as well as certificate pinning (to resist impersonation by attackers). Thus we are left with no option but to severely dissuade consumers from using this VPN. The good news (if you can call it that) is that the transparency report reveals that the firm does indeed collect connection logs including user IP addresses. 8 requests for access time and IP were granted.We had 8 requests from law enforcement agencies to access log file for the specific time for certain users.This alone is enough reason to stay away from the service. An out of date Warrant Canary - that has been sitting untouched since 2016 - appears to reveal that the company has been served a warrant. In addition to this problem, ScryptMail has a warrant canary and transparency report that has not been updated in some time. Confusingly, however, the policy then reads: “We have no ability to match an IP to a specific user account.” These appear to be a direct contradiction. The privacy policy reveals that the firm stores some connection logs: Last login time, IP address, User-agent, and API call. For people not ready to jump into the internet’s underbelly, a webmail client much like those provided by many other email clients is available in your browser via the internet. If the firm breaks a gag order (which forces it to keep that surveillance a secret) employees at the firm could be prosecuted and face jail time.Ī mirror of ScryptMail’s webmail service is available on the deep web via Tor which is great for people who want to sign up and access their emails anonymously. US-based firms can be served warrants and gag orders that force them to begin snooping on their users on behalf of the government. ScryptMail Featuresīeing based in the US is always considered a problem when it comes to privacy. However, considering it is possible to get fully-featured secure email providers for just 1 Euro per month (Tutanota or Posteo, for example) paying for this service is going to work out a touch expensive if you start to bolt on numerous features. These are charged individually and are fairly reasonably priced. Once money has been added to the balance of their account, the user can opt for individual upgrades such as custom domains, aliases, stronger PGP key encryption, and various other features. Users can opt to “refill” their account with balance with either PayPal or Bitcoin. For free, users gain access to 300 Mb of email storage. ScryptMail is a low-cost email service, which can be used for free. In our scryptmail review we take a detailed look at some of its claims - to see if it is worth spending your time and money.
On the surface, ScryptMail email provider appears to have a lot of strong features. On the other hand, it does not appear to have undergone any third-party audits.
#IDRIVE REVIEW CNET CODE#
Despite this, putting the code on Github is better than keeping it hidden away under lock and key. Thus, it is not truthfully completely open source.
#IDRIVE REVIEW CNET LICENSE#
In addition, while the code for the service has been placed on Github it lacks documentation and includes no license file. A US base is always a good reason to stay away from any service that claims to provide privacy because it is hard to verify that they are truly providing the privacy and security they claim (and even if they intend to - they could be forced to start snooping on users in secret at any time). This small independent service sounds interesting, so we thought we would put it through its paces.īeing based in the US is a concern because the US is home to the NSA, CIA, gag orders, and warrants. The firm claims to provide strong email security that includes encryption at rest and encrypted metadata (a claim we will call into question later). ScryptMail is an email provider that was developed by Sergei Krutov, a data protection consultant based in Spokane, Washington. Please see our best secure Email services article for a list of alternatives. The good news is that there are plenty of alternatives to ScryptMail. On Email service will be shut down and they will delete all databases on March 31, 2022.