Online security is taking a front row seat for internet-savvy users. So much so that the European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN) in Switzerland has developed its own super-secure email system for public use.
But if you want to get in on the anonymous action, good luck. The ProtonMail system has proven to be so popular that the company has had to do a number of infrastructure upgrades – and there are more in the pipeline.
“We are at maxed server capacity. We’re working hard to add more servers in Switzerland, and we’ll send you an invitation as soon as possible,” is the message potential users will see on the sign-up page.
“We did have a major infrastructure upgrade. It has allowed us to quickly invite a lot more users from our waiting list these past few weeks. Readers can still register for our waiting list,” CERN’s ProtonMail team told htxt.africa.
“The waiting list will be around at least until we end Beta (which will at least take a few more months).”
In a bit of an exclusive, CERN also revealed that current users will soon be given the opportunity to invite others to the service without the wait. “This has not been announced… but soon, current users will be able to give their friends instant access.”
ProtonMail started out as an IndieGoGo crowdfunded project, receiving $550 377 of the required $100 000 goal. The ProtonMail+ perk proved to be the most popular, with 2 086 people opting to pay $47 for a one year account with a gigabyte of storage.
Hosted and developed in Switzerland, CERN has a simple goal: “we want to protect people around the world from the mass surveillance that is currently being perpetrated by governments and corporations around the world.”
CERN explains that the mail sent through the system is encrypted at the user’s end, and arrives at the ProtonMail servers in an already-encrypted state.
“ProtonMail uses breakthrough web technologies and proven cryptographic algorithms to protect your privacy. Because of our end-to-end encryption, your data is already encrypted by the time it reaches our servers. We have no access to your messages, and since we cannot decrypt them, we cannot share them with third parties.”
A rise in the popularity of ProtonMail could have been sparked by discussions in the UK and USA after British Prime Minister David Cameron said that the government should have backdoors into encrypted data – a move US President Barack Obama supports.
Cameron wants the UK government to have access to encrypted email and messaging services such as WhatsApp and iMessage, all in the name of combating terrorism.
“In our country, do we want to allow a means of communication between people which […] we cannot read? I think we cannot allow modern forms of communication to be exempt from the ability, in extremis, with a warrant signed by the Home Secretary, to be exempt from being listened to,” Cameron said in an address last week.
Obama isn’t far off with his stance on the matter.
“If we find evidence of a terrorist plot… and despite having a phone number, despite having a social media address or email address, we can’t penetrate that, that’s a problem,” he said, according to the Wall Street Journal.
If you would still like to join ProtonMail and are prepared for a bit of a wait, click here to request an invite.
