all-in-one privacy solution":["Proton Unlimited to wszechstronne rozwiązanie zapewniające prywatność"],"Black Friday":["Czarny Piątek"],"No ads. Privacy by default.":["Brak reklam. 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In the case of big tech, if you pay nothing, you get used. I quit using Gmail and switched to @ProtonMail":["Dostajesz to, za co płacisz. W przypadku przedsiębiorstw big tech, jeśli nie płacisz nic, zostaniesz wykorzystany. Przestałam korzystać z Gmail i przeniosłam się na @ProtonMail"]},"specialoffer:time":{"Days":["Dni"],"Hours":["Godz."],"Min":["Min"]},"specialoffer:title":{"And much more":["I wiele więcej"],"Make your inbox yours":["Spraw, aby Twoja skrzynka odbiorcza była naprawdę Twoja"],"Safe from trackers":["Bezpieczeństwo od skryptów śledzących"],"Stay organized":["Zachowaj porządek"],"Black Friday email deals":["Oferty e-mailowe na Czarny Piątek"],"Don’t just take our word for it":["Nie musisz wierzyć nam na słowo"],"Our story":["Nasza historia"],"Transfer your data from Google in one click":["Przenieś dane z Google jednym kliknięciem"]},"specialoffer:tooltip":{"Access blocked content and browse privately. Includes ${ TOTAL_VPN_SERVERS }+ servers in ${ TOTAL_VPN_COUNTRIES }+ countries, connect up to 10 devices, access worldwide streaming services, malware and ad-blocker, and more.":["Uzyskaj dostęp do zablokowanych treści i przeglądaj prywatnie Internet. Obejmuje ponad ${ TOTAL_VPN_SERVERS } serwerów w ponad ${ TOTAL_VPN_COUNTRIES } krajach z możliwością połączenia do 10 urządzeń, a także dostęp do globalnych usług streamingu, blokadę reklam, złośliwego oprogramowania i wiele więcej."],"Easily share your calendar with your family, friends or colleagues, and view external calendars.":["Łatwo udostępniaj swój kalendarz rodzinie, znajomym oraz współpracownikom i wyświetla kalendarze zewnętrzne."],"Includes support for 1 custom email domain, 10 email addresses, 10 hide-my-email aliases, calendar sharing, and more.":["Zawiera obsługę 1 niestandardowej domeny e-mail, 10 adresów e-mail, 10 aliasów hide-my-email, udostępnianie kalendarza i nie tylko."],"Includes support for 3 custom email domains, 15 email addresses, unlimited hide-my-email aliases, calendar sharing, and more.":["Obejmuje obsługę 3 niestandardowych domen e-mail, 15 adresów e-mail, nielimitowane aliasy hide-my-email, udostępnianie kalendarza i nie tylko."],"Manage up to 25 calendars, mobile apps, secured with end-to-end encryption, 1-click calendar import from Google, and more.":["Zarządzanie nawet 25 kalendarzami, aplikacje mobilne, bezpieczne szyfrowanie metodą end-to-end, importowanie kalendarza za pomocą jednego kliknięcia z Google i więcej."]},"Status banner":{"Learn more":["Dowiedz się więcej"],"Please note that at the moment we are experiencing issues with the ${ issues[0] } service.":["Uwaga: obecnie występują problemy z usługą ${ issues[0] }."],"We are experiencing issues with one or more services at the moment.":["Mamy problemy z co najmniej jedną usługą."]},"Status Banner":{"At the moment we are experiencing issues with the Proton VPN service":["W tej chwili mamy problemy z usługą Proton VPN"],"Learn more":["Dowiedz się więcej"]},"steps":{"Step":["Krok"]},"suggestions":{"Suggestions":["Sugestie"]},"Support":{"Sub category":["Podkategoria","Podkategorie","Podkategorii","Podkategorii"]},"Support article":{"${ readingTime } min":["${ readingTime } min","${ readingTime } min","${ readingTime } min","${ readingTime } min"],"Category":["Kategoria","Kategorie","Kategorii","Kategorii"],"Didn’t find what you were looking for?":["Nie znaleziono szukanej frazy?"],"General contact":["Skontaktuj się, wykorzystując ogólne zapytanie"],"Get help":["Uzyskaj pomoc"],"Legal contact":["Skontaktuj się z działem prawnym"],"Media contact":["Skontaktuj się z zespołem medialnym"],"Partnerships contact":["Skontaktuj się z zespołem ds. partnerstwa"],"Reading":["Odczytywanie"]},"Support troubleshooting":{"App version":["Wersja aplikacji"],"Browser":["Przeglądarka"],"Check if this helps":["Sprawdź, czy to pomoże"],"Choose a product":["Wybierz produkt"],"Did this solve your issue?":["Czy Twój problem został rozwiązany?"],"Faster assistance is just a few clicks away":["Szybsze wsparcie uzyskasz w kilka kliknięć"],"How can we help?":["Jak możemy pomóc?"],"No, contact support":["Nie, skontaktuj się z pomocą techniczną"],"Please fill out one field after another":["Wypełnij pola jedno po drugim"],"Please make your selections":["Dokonaj wyboru"],"Proton account":["Konto Proton"],"Proton for Business":["Proton for Business"],"Thank you for your feedback":["Dziękujemy za podzielenie się opinią"],"What can we help with?":["W czym możemy pomóc?"],"Yes":["Tak"]},"support_modal_search_query":{"Search query":["Zapytanie wyszukiwania"]},"support_search_button":{"Search":["Szukaj"]},"support_search_i_am_looking_for":{"I'm looking for":["Szukam"]},"SupportForm":{"For a faster resolution, please report the issue from the Bridge app: Help > Report a problem.":["W celu szybszego rozwiązania problemu dokonaj zgłoszenia przez aplikację Bridge: Pomoc > Zgłoś problem."],"Information":["Informacje"]},"SupportForm:option":{"Account Security":["Bezpieczeństwo konta"],"Contacts":["Kontakty"],"Custom email domain":["Niestandardowa domena e-mail"],"Email delivery and Spam":["Dostarczanie wiadomości e-mail i spam"],"Encryption":["Szyfrowanie"],"Login and password":["Login i hasło"],"Merge aliases and accounts":["Scalanie aliasów i kont"],"Migrate to Proton":["Migracja do Proton"],"Notifications":["Powiadomienia"],"Other":["Inne"],"Plans and billing":["Plany i rozliczenia"],"Proton for Business":["Proton for Business"],"Sign up":["Rejestracja"],"Storage":["Przestrzeń dyskowa"],"Users, addresses, and identities":["Użytkownicy, adresy i tożsamości"]},"SupportForm:optionIntro":{"Select a topic":["Wybierz temat"]},"swiss_baseed_feature":{"Swiss based":["Ulokowany w Szwajcarii"]},"Testimonial":{"Awards":["Nagrody"],"Customers":["Klienci"],"Featured":["Wyróżnione"],"Go to testimonial source":["Przejdź do źródła referencji"],"Open source of award":["Otwórz źródło nagrody"],"Open source of quote":["Otwórz źródło cytatu"],"Reviews":["Opinie"],"Videos":["Pliki wideo"],"Watch on TikTok":["Oglądaj na TikTok"],"Watch on YouTube":["Oglądaj na YouTube"]},"TestimonialCategory":{"Awards":["Nagrody"],"Customers":["Klienci"],"Featured":["Wyróżnione"],"Media":["Multimedia"],"Reviews":["Opinie"],"Videos":["Pliki wideo"]},"Text":{"If you need help, check out our ${ supportLink }.":["Jeśli potrzebujesz pomocy, sprawdź naszą ${ supportLink }."],"The page you’re looking for might have been removed, or it could be an\nold link.":["Strona, której szukasz, mogła zostać usunięta lub link jest przestarzały."]},"Title":{"On this page":["Na tej stronie"],"Related articles":["Powiązane artykuły"],"Share ${ thisPage }":["Udostępnij ${ thisPage }"],"Switch to Proton Pass - Contact us":["Przejdź na Proton Pass - Skontaktuj się z nami"],"Thank you!":["Dziękujemy!"],"this page":["tę stronę"]},"Tooltip":{"More information":["Więcej informacji"]},"tooltip_vpn":{"Access blocked content and browse privately. Includes ${ TOTAL_VPN_SERVERS }+ servers in ${ TOTAL_VPN_COUNTRIES }+ countries, highest VPN speed, ${ TOTAL_VPN_CONNECTIONS } VPN connections, worldwide streaming services, malware and ad-blocker, and more.":["Uzyskaj dostęp do zablokowanych treści i przeglądaj prywatnie Internet. Obejmuje ponad ${ TOTAL_VPN_SERVERS } serwerów w ponad ${ TOTAL_VPN_COUNTRIES } krajach, najwyższe prędkości VPN, ${ TOTAL_VPN_CONNECTIONS } połączeń VPN, usługi streamingu na całym świecie, blokowanie reklam oraz złośliwego oprogramowania i wiele więcej."]},"wallet_signup_2024:Action":{"Get Proton Wallet":["Wybierz Proton Wallet"]},"wallet_signup_2024:Homepage hero product link title":{"Wallet":["Portfel"]},"wallet_signup_2024:Homepage product navigation bar":{"Wallet":["Portfel"]},"wallet_signup_2024:menu item":{"Bitcoin guide":["Przewodnik po systemie Bitcoin"],"Proton Wallet news":["Aktualności Proton Wallet"],"Proton Wallet support":["Wsparcie dla Proton Wallet"]},"wallet_signup_2024:Pricing":{"Includes everything in Proton Unlimited and":["Zawiera wszystko, co Proton Unlimited oraz"],"Limited availability":["Ograniczona dostępność"],"The easiest way to securely own, send, and receive Bitcoin":["Najprostszy sposób na bezpieczne przechowywanie, wysyłanie i odbieranie waluty Bitcoin"]},"wallet_signup_2024:ProductRange":{"Discover Proton Wallet":["Odkryj rozwiązanie Proton Wallet"],"Store and transact Bitcoin privately with an encrypted self-custody wallet.":["Bezpiecznie przechowuj i przesyłaj Bitcoiny dzięki szyfrowanemu portfelowi typu self-custody."]},"wallet_signup_2024:wallet bitcoin":{"Learn about Bitcoin, the Internet's value network.":["Dowiedz się więcej o internetowym systemie gotówkowym Bitcoin."]},"wallet_signup_2024:wallet overview":{"Ensure you're always in control of your Bitcoin.":["Miej pełny nadzór nad swoimi Bitcoinami."]},"wallet_signup_2024:wallet security":{"The encrypted, open-source wallet that puts you in control.":["Szyfrowany portfel o otwartym kodzie źródłowym, który daje Ci pełną kontrolę."]}}},"base":"blog","cdn":{"enabledForAssets":true,"enabledForImages":true,"url":"https://pmecdn.protonweb.com/"},"unleashApi":"https://account.proton.me/api"};
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Proton Mail is designed to guard against a broad range of threats. But there is no such thing as perfect security. This threat model describes the threats Proton Mail can and cannot counter.
Updated Nov. 18, 2019, to remove reference to an outdated plugin recommendation.
Email is one of the most common modes of communication, but it is also one of least secure. First introduced in the 1980s, email was developed well before many threats of the modern Internet were even envisioned, much less understood. Despite its flaws, email is not going away any time soon and will continue to play a major role in our lives and our work. In view of email’s ubiquity and its drawbacks, we designed Proton Mail to mitigate many of the security and privacy vulnerabilities of email while preserving its ease of use.
Of course, there is no way to design a system that is 100% secure, and Proton Mail is no exception. Along the way, we have made many design decisions that sometimes prioritize security over usability, and other times usability over security. The result is a system that is vastly more private than the most popular free email services but nonetheless does not offer complete protection, as nothing can truly offer complete protection. In this article, we explain what Proton Mail is and isn’t designed to protect against so that you can make an informed choice about when to use Proton Mail for your communications.
Proton Mail security overview
Emails between Proton Mail users are always end-to-end encrypted, meaning only the sender and the recipient can read the email message. Encryption takes place on the sender’s device using the recipient’s public key. All messages (including messages to and from non-Proton Mail users) are also stored using zero-access encryption on our servers and therefore inaccessible to us. Private keys are encrypted using users’ account password in a way that is not accessible to us.
The use of strong encryption protects messages from many types of data exposure, including mass surveillance, government requests, and data breaches. This is different from other email providers, such as Google or Yahoo, which do retain the ability to read their users’ messages. This allows them to scan messages for advertising purposes or share them with third parties.
While Proton Mail does not have the ability to decrypt message contents or attachments, like any email service we have access to metadata (such as sender/recipient and subject lines), because without this information we could not deliver messages to their final destination. Because Proton Mail is based in Switzerland, this metadata remains under the protection of some of the world’s strongest privacy laws. However, if presented with a valid order from a Swiss court involving a case of criminal activity that is against Swiss law, Proton Mail can be compelled to share account metadata (but not message contents or attachments) with law enforcement.
Emails between Proton Mail accounts and non-Proton Mail accounts are also zero-access encrypted on our servers, but they are not end-to-end encrypted in transit, and copies stored on your recipient’s email service may be vulnerable to exposure. For example, if you send an email to somebody using Yahoo mail and Yahoo is breached, that message may be exposed through the recipient’s inbox. This is why for sensitive communications, we recommend that your contacts also utilize a Proton Mail account. Proton Mail does, however, offer the ability to send end-to-end encrypted emails to non-Proton Mail accounts through our outside encryption feature or through PGP (for advanced users).
What Proton Mail does not guard against
Compromised account or device
This is the most common type of compromise. Even if you use the world’s most secure electronic communication system, advanced encryption does you no good if your password has been compromised or there is a keylogger on your computer recording all of your keystrokes. Proton Mail does not and can not guard against a compromise of a user’s machine.
This is a far more difficult attack that can typically only be executed by a strong adversary (like a government) and is generally a targeted attack. An MITM attack cannot easily be used on a large scale to perform mass surveillance.
As the name suggests, an MITM is where an adversary sits between the user’s device and the server. Because Proton Mail messages are encrypted before they leave the user’s browser, an attacker cannot get message data by simply listening in on the communications. The attacker would have to actually send the user’s browser a modified version of the Proton Mail website, which may secretly pass the account password back to the attacker.
Fortunately, there are several ways to protect against an MITM attack. Proton Mail employs TLS to secure the delivery of our software to users’ browsers and prevent tampering of our code en route. Generally speaking, a successful MITM attack requires breaking TLS, typically by using a forged TLS certificate. There are browser plugins that can be used to detect forged certificates and greatly reduce the risk of an MITM attack. Using Proton Mail’s mobile apps and our desktop Bridge software may reduce the risk of MITM attacks as those environments are more difficult to compromise than web.
Proton Mail also features another anti-MITM feature called Address Verification. This allows users to “trust” the public key of a contact you have verified. This is a form of key-pinning that provides extra protection by detecting if a fake public key is delivered to your device for that contact. This feature gives Proton Mail higher security compared to other encrypted email services because you are protected against key tampering and the trust model is trust on first use instead of trust on every use. For highly sensitive communications, we recommend enabling Address Verification.
Another attack vector would be if an attacker somehow gained access to Proton Mail’s servers in Switzerland without us noticing. Such an attacker could conceivably change the Proton Mail software to send bad encryption code to users’ browsers that would somehow allow the attacker to get unencrypted data. Proton Mail has implemented numerous safeguards against this on the server level which make this a difficult attack to pull off successfully in an undetectable way.
Proton Mail recommended use cases
Proton Mail offers good (but not perfect) protection for the vast majority of users. There are, however, some risks for users facing a strong adversary, such as a government focusing all its resources on a very specific target. In such a case, we don’t think encryption would be of much benefit, as this XKCD comic would apply(nowe okno).
Below are some examples of recommended and not recommended use cases for Proton Mail:
Recommended
Sensitive business communications
You have sensitive business information that you want to make sure is protected from competitors and other malicious parties. For example, you fear a competitor may want to sue you under false pretenses to get access to sensitive data. In this case, Proton Mail offers a great deal of protection. Proton Mail will not release any data unless provided with a valid order from the Swiss authorities. Even if an adversary went through the expensive and time-consuming procedure of obtaining such an order, Proton Mail’s zero-access cryptography means we would not be able to release decrypted data, apart from metadata.
Anyone with privacy concerns
Proton Mail is also perfect for an individual (or corporation) that does NOT want the government to have access to all of their emails at any time, and does not like Google or Microsoft constantly scanning and archiving all conversations. With Proton Mail, the barrier of entry for mass surveillance is high enough that mass surveillance simply is not practical. This is an example where ‘good privacy’ can act as a meaningful substitute to ‘perfect privacy.’
Organizations with data security needs
Proton Mail can help organizations comply with data privacy regulations. Our encryption meets the standard set out by the GDPR(nowe okno) for technical measures to protect personal data. Our zero-access encryption also greatly reduces the risk of a data breach, and significantly reduces the impact of a breach in the unlikely event that there were to be a breach.
If you are attempting to leak state secrets (as was the case of Edward Snowden) or going up against a powerful state adversary, email may not be the most secure medium for communications. The Internet is generally not anonymous, and if you are breaking Swiss law, a law-abiding company such as Proton Mail can be legally compelled to log your IP address. A powerful state adversary will also be better positioned to launch one of the attacks described above against you, which may negate the privacy protection provided by Proton Mail. While we can offer more protection and security, we cannot guarantee your safety against a powerful adversary.
Conclusion
We would like to conclude with a few thoughts about privacy and surveillance in general. Some people make the assertion that if you are not a criminal, there is no need for privacy. A very powerful counterargument to that, which we recommend everybody watch, can be found here.(nowe okno)
There are also critics who assert that by building Proton Mail, we are providing a tool for criminals to evade the authorities. Like any technology, Proton Mail can be used for good or bad. However, the vast majority of our users are individuals seeking greater control over their data, or journalists and activists living under authoritarian regimes where freedom of speech and privacy are not respected. The truth about data security is that there is no middle ground: any weakening of encryption will make all of us less secure.
We can either choose to live in a world where everybody is under surveillance, or a world where everybody (criminals included) has privacy. We feel that the right to privacy is a fundamental human right, and we are willing to fight and work toward protecting that right.
As students build their lives online, Proton makes it safe for them to access
educational resources, communicate with each other, and share knowledge online
safely.