65 lines
No EOL
3.8 KiB
Markdown
65 lines
No EOL
3.8 KiB
Markdown
---
|
|
title: Proton Mail Channel
|
|
sidebar_label: Proton Mail Channel
|
|
sidebar_position: 55
|
|
description: Using a ProtonMail email account
|
|
---
|
|
|
|
[Proton Mail](https://proton.me/mail) is the largest end-to-end encrypted email hosting service.
|
|
It was launched in 2014 and is headquartered in Geneva, Switzerland.
|
|
It is owned by the non-profit Proton Foundation through its subsidiary Proton AG.
|
|
Proton Mail uses client-side encryption to protect email content and user data before they are sent to Proton Mail
|
|
servers, unlike other common email providers.
|
|
|
|
The source code for the back end of Proton Mail remains closed-source, but Proton Mail released the source code for the
|
|
web interface, iOS and Android apps, and the [Proton Mail Bridge app](https://github.com/ProtonMail/proton-bridge)
|
|
under an open-source licence.
|
|
|
|
Although Proton Mail's encryption uses the open standard OpenPGP, and the Link platform support OpenPGP when used with
|
|
other email providers, it is not possible to directly interact with the encryption from the Link platform.
|
|
This is because Proton Mail does not provide the traditional IMAP and SMTP server endpoints to send and receive emails
|
|
and only allows connection via the Proton Mail bridge app which handles all encryption and decryption of messages.
|
|
|
|
## Requirements
|
|
|
|
* You must have a paid plan to use the Proton Mail channel as the use of the Proton Mail Bridge app is not possible on
|
|
a free account.
|
|
* Additionally, a user must be dedicated for the use of the helpdesk, it is not sufficient to create an alias on an
|
|
existing user.
|
|
|
|
## Encryption & Key Management
|
|
|
|
OpenPGP private keys are created automatically for each Proton Mail account, although these are stored in a way that
|
|
they are not generally available other than when successfully authenticated to the platform.
|
|
In the case of Link, this means that the Proton Mail Bridge app is authenticated and then has access to the OpenPGP
|
|
private key.
|
|
|
|
It is not currently possible to import public keys of 3rd-party (i.e. non-Proton Mail) email addresses, and so only
|
|
emails between Proton Mail users will be end-to-end encrypted.
|
|
The service also
|
|
[does not support the Autocrypt standard](https://protonmail.uservoice.com/forums/945460-general-ideas/suggestions/32845105-autocrypt-support),
|
|
which allows other clients to import discovered public keys automatically on new conversations.
|
|
The Proton Mail documentation [has more on this topic](https://proton.me/support/proton-mail-encryption-explained).
|
|
|
|
We will provide you with your public OpenPGP key when the channel is set up, and you can make this discoverable via your
|
|
website, but for conversations with 3rd-party accounts we expect the conversations will only be encrypted in one
|
|
direction and your replies will not be encrypted.
|
|
|
|
The helpdesk is unaware of the encryption happening in Protonmail, and cannot inform agents when an email that was sent
|
|
or received by the helpdesk was encrypted or not.
|
|
|
|
## Setting up
|
|
|
|
If you do not have an organisational account, we can fully manage the Proton Mail account setup including billing.
|
|
Please [contact us](https://www.sr2.uk/contact) to discuss this.
|
|
|
|
If you have an organisational account,
|
|
[send an invite for the new user](https://proton.me/support/add-users-organization#create-a-new-user) (the new helpdesk
|
|
channel address) to contact@sr2.uk, and email the same address to let us know you are doing this and that you would
|
|
like the channel added to your helpdesk.
|
|
|
|
Once the setup is complete we will provide you with OpenPGP public key and will also upload it to
|
|
[keys.openpgp.org](https://keys.openpgp.org/) to aid in its discovery by users.
|
|
We can also provide support on setting up Web Key Discovery (WKD) on your custom email domain if desired to further
|
|
increase the chances that inbound emails will be automatically encrypted, although this still cannot help to encrypt
|
|
replies to 3rd-party email services. |