– Effective anonymisation of communication meta data by the Tor network
– Last hop data centre: „Tor Exit Node“ located at mailbox.org
Berlin, 8th March 2016: mailbox.org has upgraded: After successfully completing the beta phase, the secure e-mail communication service is now officially part of the worldwide anonymisation network „Tor Onion Router“.
This will protect customers with increased security needs against the recently introduced, and potentially unconstitutional, data retention measures. By operating a dedicated „Tor Exit Node“, all connections made to mailbox.org will be reliably anonymized.
Users can rest assured that this safe „exit door“ will guarantee their encrypted communication data will actually arrive at the Berlin data centre and not elsewhere. For this to work, it makes no difference if a local e-mail client is used, or the web-mail interface in the browser. All that users need to do in order to switch on anonymisation is download and install a small software package on their computers, and carry out a few configuration steps.
mailbox.org is the only German e-mail service provider to offer this level of reliable anonymisation of communication meta data with all available tariffs, even their most basic offer „Mail“. What is also included are facilities for secure communication with users who do not use PGP, as well as a fully-featured cloud office software package.
„By operating a dedicated Tor exit node, we now also protect our customers from the surveillance of their meta data“, says Peer Heinlein, CEO of mailbox.org. „Since our systems remain completely ignorant of the original IP address of a sender and have no technical means to find it out, any data retention measures that may be applied are practically rendered useless.“
The interoperation of Tor Onion Router and mailbox.org
The use of the Tor network is facilitated through a special client, in a number of steps:
The initial connection to the Tor network is made through a so-called „Entry Node“. From there, the data is anonymised on its route via a large number of random nodes to eventually reach an exit – the „Exit Node“. As soon as the data leaves the Tor network, the connection will no longer be anonymous. By providing a dedicated „Tor Exit Node“, mailbox.org solves this problem, because all data packets will leave the Tor network directly in their data centre and so, avoid any potentially unsafe travel through the public internet. More information and configuration advice can be found here:
https://support-en.mailbox.org/knowledge-base/articles/hints-for-tor-users
Secure communication via e-mail and chat, even with users that do not have PGP
Since mailbox.org started as a service provider, customers have benefited from spam-free and encrypted e-mail inboxes and PGP-based end-to-end encryption. Numerous other security mechanisms such as one-time passwords (OTP), DANE, and DNSSEC are effective in preventing unauthorised access by third parties. For secure communication with those who do not have PGP installed locally, mailbox.org offers their customers a convenient solution: The mailbox.org „Guard“ creates temporary mailboxes on the mailbox.org servers for those other users, so that messages and files can be safely exchanged via DANE and https. Moreover, mailbox.org operates an instant messaging server based on Jabber / XMPP. Everyone with a mailbox.org e-mail address can use this service to exchange encrypted text messages and files with others, including users who are registered with other Jabber services.
Prices and availability
The new „Tor Exit Node“ feature is automatically included in all mailbox.org tariffs, available from 1 EUR per month, and without any additional charge. A free 30-day-trial account can be created here: https://mailbox.org/en/signup
mailbox.org has been the first provider in the world to offer automatically PGP-encrypted e-mail accounts. In a comparison of 14 e-mail providers, carried out by the leading German consumer safety group „Stiftung Warentest“ in February 2015, mailbox.org came out winning a top position. Founded in early 2014, mailbox.org managed to quickly establish itself as an easy-to-use service for secure e-mail communication. In addition to core e-mail functionality, their security-conscious customers also receive useful office features based on the OX App Suite, such as calendar, task management, and online text processing software, plus cloud file storage, and a secure instant messaging solution, based on Jabber / XMPP.
mailbox.org is a service of the Heinlein Support GmbH and based in Berlin, Germany. The company director, Peer Heinlein, is an expert in e-mail services and an IT security adviser. He has 25 years of experience in the provision of email services to security-conscious businesses and private users. He has been operating the political provider JPBerlin.de since 1992, which supplies trusted digital infrastructure to businesses and organisations like the OpenSUSE project, but also to NGOs like Attac, Doctors Without Borders, the German working group on data retention, Wikimedia, and individuals working in an honorary capacity.
Firmenkontakt
mailbox.org
Ivonne Heinlein
Schwedter Straße 8/9 A
10119 Berlin
+49 (0)30 405051-48
i.heinlein@heinlein-support.de
https://mailbox.org
Pressekontakt
Agentur Frische Fische
Alexander Trompke
Prießnitzstraße 7
01099 Dresden
+49 (0)351 3127338
at@frische-fische.com
http://frische-fische.de
