mailbox.org checks security standard of e-mail recipients before sending

2015-06-03

How would you know if your e-mail will be delivered via SSL? When composing your message with mailbox.org, just by typing the recipient address you will find out in an instant – before actually sending anything!
A simple symbol on the screen will tell you what kind of transport security is supported by the e-mail provider of the recipient.
As a result, your private and business communication will become more secure and transparent.

All customers of mailbox.org can now easily see if the message they wish to send will be transmitted to recipients on an SSL-encrypted connection.
mailbox.org uses a straightforward way to classify the e-mail providers at the receiving end of the communication. Basically, there are three symbols indicating the supported transport security level: 1) If the provider offers no encryption whatsoever, users will see a red, open padlock symbol next to the recipient’s address; 2) normal SSL encryption support will yield a green padlock symbol, and 3) if the system supports the highest SSL standard as well as DANE and DNSSEC security, users will be presented with a symbol showing a green sealed padlock.

„Even though surveillance scandals are in the news on an almost daily basis, only 85 per cent of e-mail providers offer basic SSL encryption.“, says Peer Heinlein, founder and operator of mailbox.org. „For this reason, users have no real certainty about the secure transmission of their e-mail messages around the world.“

Offering secure transmission everywhere

E-mail providers are not obliged to facilitate any secure communication with other providers. If there is no encryption, a malicious user could act as a „man in the middle“ and manipulate the SMTP connection process in order to force the unencrypted delivery of an e-mail message.

At mailbox.org, such attacks will be detected automatically and if an external mail server suddenly falls below its previously known security standard, we will stop the delivery of e-mails to this server until our administrative team has investigated the case and determined that message delivery to this server is safe again.

Through these measures, mailbox.org creates a new level of security for the sending of e-mails. The new service works with all mail servers on the Web, which stands in contrast to „E-Mail made in Germany“, where the secure transmission of messages is limited to a few selected providers. mailbox.org can now guarantee the secure sending of e-mails to all providers which offer a secure encrypted connection.