Temporarily cannot log in to Proton products

Proton’s security system defends our users from malicious actors seeking to gain unauthorized access to private data or compromise their accounts(new window).

When we detect substantial suspicious activity originating from a particular network or individual, we may temporarily take action to mitigate the risk to the user. In such cases, you may temporarily not be able to log in to your account. 

Your account will continue to receive messages like normal. There are steps you can take if you need to access your inbox immediately, which are listed below. 

Why did this happen to me?

If you receive this error, it does not automatically mean that you personally committed any malicious activity. 

The most common reason this happens is someone committed malicious activity on a large scale using the same network as you or using your network as a proxy.

Malicious actors try to hide their activity using: 

• Anonymization proxies 
• The Tor network
• VPNs

As a result, if you use one of these services, you will often be subject to more security checks, rate limits, and “Are you a human?” verification checks. In some cases, you may also be denied access to services that have recently experienced large amounts of abuse from that particular network.

Proton does not permanently reject service to any network. However, we may occasionally and temporarily limit the activity originating from a network or device based on recent detected behavior.

I need my email now. Can I do something to log in anyway?

• Use a reputable internet service provider that tries to prevent malicious activity on its network. Your home internet provider should work just fine for the vast majority of cases.
• If you are on a mobile phone, only use WiFi hotspots that you trust. If you cannot find any, use your carrier data instead (if possible). If your carrier data is giving you this error, try disconnecting from the mobile network and then reconnecting.
• If you are concerned about your privacy and must use a VPN to connect to Proton services, try switching to another VPN server.

What can I do to prevent this?

• Make sure you aren’t unwittingly the source of malicious traffic (for example, avoid malicious apps which sell access to your network to bad actors). If you are using VPN, try a different server or use a paid VPN server.
• Keep all your devices secure. This means updating your devices’ operating systems and software regularly and making sure no one has unauthorized physical access to your devices.