At Proton, our mission is to build a better internet where privacy is the default. In order to do this, community participation in securing Proton Mail(new window), Proton Calendar(new window), and Proton Drive(new window) is essential, and that is the spirit behind our bug bounty program.
Note, there is also a bug bounty program for Proton VPN(new window).
Rules
Scope: The program is limited to the servers and web and mobile applications run by Proton Mail. Our profiles on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Eventbrite, etc., do not qualify. Qualifying sites include:
- proton.me(new window)
- mail.proton.me(new window)
- calendar.proton.me(new window)
- drive.proton.me(new window)
- simplelogin.io(new window)
Proton Mail iOS and Android apps are also included in this program, as well as the Proton Calendar Android app.
Judging: The judging panel to determine awards consists of Proton Mail developers assisted by one or more outside experts who are part of our security group. Program participants agree to respect the final decision made by the judges.
Responsible disclosure: We request that all vulnerabilities be reported to us at security@proton.me We believe it is against the spirit of this program to disclose the flaw to third parties for purposes other than actually fixing the bug. Participants agree to not disclose bugs found until after they have been fixed and to coordinate disclosure with our team through our release notes to avoid confusion.
Responsible testing: Please do not spam users, leverage black hat SEO techniques, run phishing campaigns, or do other similarly questionable things. We also discourage vulnerability testing that degrades the quality of service for our users. If in doubt, feel free to contact our Security Team at security@proton.me.
Adherence to rules: By participating in this program, you agree to adhere to the above rules and conditions. All rules must be followed to be eligible for awards.
Qualifying vulnerabilities
Any design or implementation issue that substantially affects the confidentiality or integrity of user data is likely to be in scope for the program. This includes, but is not limited to:
Web applications
- Cross-site scripting
- Cross-site request forgery
- Mixed-content scripts
- Authentication or authorization flaws
- Server-side code execution bugs
- REST API vulnerabilities
Server
- SMTP exploits (open relays, etc)
- Un-authorised shell access
- Privilege escalation
Mobile
- Authentication or authorization flaws
- Server-side code execution bugs
- Mobile local data security breach (without rooting)
We believe in working closely with security researchers and are willing to share technical details such as API specifications or infrastructure details with selected researchers with the aim of improving security for all Proton Mail users. Please contact security@proton.me for more details.
Qualifying improvements
Sometimes, bounties are awarded for suggestions for improvement which don’t fall into any of the above categories. This is determined on a case by case basis by our team. These include things such as:
- Mail or web server configuration improvements
- Firewall configurations
- Improved DOS/DDoS safeguards
- Path/information disclosure
- Proton Mail blog or support page issues (such as unpatched wordpress or plugin vulnerabilities)
Non-qualifying vulnerabilities
- Flaws impacting out of date browsers (sorry, IE6 security issues don’t qualify)
- Security issues outside the scope of Proton Mail’s mission
- Phishing or social engineering attacks
- Bugs requiring exceedingly unlikely user interactions
- WordPress bugs (but please report those to WordPress)
- Out of date software – For a variety of reasons, we do not always run the most recent software versions, but we do run software that is fully patched
Reward amounts
Proton Mail cannot pay bounties of the same size as Google or Facebook, but we do our best to reward security research that stays within the guidelines of our program. In fact, most of our security contributors(new window) are volunteers. The size of the bounty we pay is determined on a case by case basis, and largely depends on the severity of the issue. Rough bounty guidelines are provided below:
Maximum bounty: $10,000
Minor server and web app vulnerabilities that do not compromise user data: $50
Vulnerabilities that can lead to data corruption: $200
Vulnerabilities that can lead to the disclosure of encrypted user data: $1,000+
