Mailfence is an

encrypted email Email encryption is encryption of email messages to protect the content from being read by entities other than the intended recipients. Email encryption may also include authentication. Email is prone to the disclosure of information. Most emails a ...

service that offers

OpenPGP Pretty Good Privacy (PGP) is an encryption program that provides cryptographic privacy and authentication for data communication. PGP is used for signing, encrypting, and decrypting texts, e-mails, files, directories, and whole disk partitio ...

based

end-to-end encryption End-to-end encryption (E2EE) is a system of communication where only the communicating users can read the messages. In principle, it prevents potential eavesdroppers – including telecom providers, Internet providers, malicious actors, and even ...

and

digital signatures A digital signature is a mathematical scheme for verifying the authenticity of digital messages or documents. A valid digital signature, where the prerequisites are satisfied, gives a recipient very high confidence that the message was created b ...

. It was launched in November 2013 by ContactOffice Group, which has been operating an online collaboration suite for universities and other organizations since 1999.

History

Development

In the midst of 2013, the Mailfence project was started by the founders of ContactOffice. In March 2016, a beta version of end-to-end encryption and digital signatures for emails was released. In January 2021, Mailfence released

progressive web application A progressive web application (PWA), commonly known as a progressive web app, is a type of application software delivered through the web, built using common web technologies including HTML, CSS, JavaScript, and WebAssembly. It is intended to wor ...

for mobile devices.

Block in Russia

On 5 March 2020, Mailfence reported that their SMTP servers are blocked by Russian based email services. This was in response to their refusal to submit a Notice of Commencement of Collaboration with Roskomnadzor’s (the Federal Supervision Agency for Communications, Information Technology, and Mass Communication) of the Russian government. Mailfence did not respond to this request, citing obligation to provide information about users, violating its Terms and the federal Belgian laws.

Features

Mailfence provides secure email features, with other functions such as Calendar, Contacts, Documents and Collaboration. Encryption and Two-factor authentication are available in the free version of the product. Most other features are only available with paid subscriptions that start at 2,50 € per month.

Email

The service supports POP/

IMAP In computing, the Internet Message Access Protocol (IMAP) is an Internet standard protocol used by email clients to retrieve email messages from a mail server over a TCP/IP connection. IMAP is defined by . IMAP was designed with the goal of per ...

and

Exchange ActiveSync Exchange ActiveSync (commonly known as EAS) is a proprietary protocol designed for the synchronization of email, contacts, calendar, tasks, and notes from a messaging server to a smartphone or other mobile devices. The protocol also provides mobi ...

as well as

vanity domain In the Domain Name System (DNS), a vanity domain is a domain name whose purpose is to express the individuality of the person on whose behalf it is registered. This contrasts with domain names which resolve to an organisation (e.g. a company) or ...

s with SPF,

DKIM DomainKeys Identified Mail (DKIM) is an email authentication method designed to detect forged sender addresses in email (email spoofing), a technique often used in phishing and email spam. DKIM allows the receiver to check that an email claimed ...

DMARC Domain-based Message Authentication, Reporting and Conformance (DMARC) is an email authentication protocol. It is designed to give email domain owners the ability to protect their domain from unauthorized use, commonly known as email spoofing. Th ...

and

catch-all A catch-all or catchall is a general term, or metaphoric dumping group, for a variety of similar words or meanings. Catch-all may also refer to: * Catch-all party, or big tent party * Catch-all email filter *Catch-all taxon Wastebasket taxon (a ...

address support. Users can send both plain and rich text emails, organize messages in folders and/or categorize them with tags, take notes by setting comment on each message and create default message signatures for every sender address. Different identities can also be managed using

aliases A pseudonym (; ) or alias () is a fictitious name that a person or group assumes for a particular purpose, which differs from their original or true name (orthonym). This also differs from a new name that entirely or legally replaces an individua ...

and filters for incoming emails.

Contacts

The contacts support (CSV,

vCard vCard, also known as VCF (Virtual Contact File), is a file format standard for electronic business cards. vCards can be attached to e-mail messages, sent via Multimedia Messaging Service (MMS), on the World Wide Web, instant messaging, NFC or ...

LDIF The LDAP Data Interchange Format (LDIF) is a standard plain text data interchange format for representing Lightweight Directory Access Protocol (LDAP) directory content and update requests. LDIF conveys directory content as a set of records, on ...

) import, (

PDF Portable Document Format (PDF), standardized as ISO 32000, is a file format developed by Adobe in 1992 to present documents, including text formatting and images, in a manner independent of application software, hardware, and operating systems. ...

) export and can be accessed using

CardDAV vCard Extensions to WebDAV (CardDAV) is an address book client/server protocol designed to allow users to access and share contact data on a server. The CardDAV protocol was developed by the IETF and was published as in August 2011. CardDAV is ...

. Users organize them with tags and can also create contact lists.

Calendar

The calendar supports

vCal The Victorian Certificate of Applied Learning (VCAL) is a 'hands-on' option for students in Years 10, 11, and 12 and is a credential awarded to secondary school students who successfully complete year 11 and 12 in the Australian State of Victoria s ...

iCal Calendar is a personal calendar app made by Apple Inc. that runs on both the macOS desktop operating system and the iOS mobile operating system. It offers online cloud backup of calendars using Apple's iCloud service, or can synchronize with ...

import, export and can be accessed by using

CalDAV Calendaring Extensions to WebDAV, or CalDAV, is an Internet standard allowing a client to access and manage calendar data along with the ability to schedule meetings with users on the same or on remote servers. It lets multiple users in differ ...

. Users can share their calendars with group members and can also create polls.

Documents

The documents can be accessed using

WebDAV WebDAV (Web Distributed Authoring and Versioning) is a set of extensions to the Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP), which allows user agents to collaboratively author contents ''directly'' in an HTTP web server by providing facilities for concu ...

or edited online. Users can drag and drop files in folders, categorize them with tags take notes by setting comment on each file.

Groups

Groups allow users to share mailboxes, documents, contacts, calendars and perform instant chatting with group members in a secure way. A group administrator manages the access rights of group members and can also set another group member as co-admin or the main admin of the group.

Polls

Mailfence Polls is a secure meeting scheduler.

Chat

Jabber/XMPP protocol is the base of Mailfence chat functionality. First named Jabber, then XMPP (Extensible Messaging and Presence Protocol), this open-source protocol has been created for instant messaging.

Web-based clients

The web-interface comes with an embedded IMAP, POP3, CalDAV, and WebDAV client. Users can add external accounts and manage them centrally in the web-interface.

User management

Account owners can create and manage user accounts using the admin console.

Server location

Since their servers are located in Belgium, they are legally outside of US jurisdiction. Mailfence is therefore not subjected to US

gag order A gag order (also known as a gagging order or suppression order) is an order, typically a legal order by a court or government, restricting information or comment from being made public or passed onto any unauthorized third party. The phrase may ...

s and NSLs, notwithstanding

extradition Extradition is an action wherein one jurisdiction delivers a person accused or convicted of committing a crime in another jurisdiction, over to the other's law enforcement. It is a cooperative law enforcement procedure between the two jurisdict ...

treaties with the US. Under Belgian law, all national and international surveillance requests must go through a Belgian court.

Security and privacy

Aside from conventional security and privacy features including managing access or generating specific password for web and non-web services,

two-factor authentication Multi-factor authentication (MFA; encompassing two-factor authentication, or 2FA, along with similar terms) is an electronic authentication method in which a user is granted access to a website or application only after successfully presenting ...

, spam protection alongside of plus addressing, sender address blacklist and

whitelist A whitelist, allowlist, or passlist is a mechanism which explicitly allows some identified entities to access a particular privilege, service, mobility, or recognition i.e. it is a list of things allowed when everything is denied by default. It is ...

, Mailfence offers following features:

Transport security

The service uses TLS with ephemeral

key exchange Key exchange (also key establishment) is a method in cryptography by which cryptographic keys are exchanged between two parties, allowing use of a cryptographic algorithm. If the sender and receiver wish to exchange encrypted messages, each m ...

to encrypt all internet traffic between users and Mailfence servers. HSTS, MTA-STS and

DANE Dane or Danes may refer to: People Pertaining to Denmark * Dane, somebody from Denmark * Danes, an ethnic group native to Denmark * Danes (Germanic tribe) Other people * Dane (name), a surname and a given name (and a list of people with the nam ...

standards are also supported.

End-to-end encryption

The service uses an open-source implementation of

(RFC 4880) for emails. OpenPGP keypair is generated in client-browser, encrypted (via

AES256 The Advanced Encryption Standard (AES), also known by its original name Rijndael (), is a specification for the encryption of electronic data established by the U.S. National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) in 2001. AES is a variant ...

) with the user's passphrase, and then stored on Mailfence server. The server never sees the user's OpenPGP keypair passphrase. The service also supports end-to-end encryption for emails using a shared password with the possibility of message expiration.

OpenPGP signatures

The service gives the choice between "signing", or "signing and encrypting" an email message with or without attachments.

Integrated Keystore

The service provides an integrated

keystore A Java KeyStore (JKS) is a repository of security certificates either authorization certificates or public key certificates plus corresponding private keys, used for instance in TLS encryption. In IBM WebSphere Application Server and Oracle Web ...

to manage OpenPGP keys, and does not require any third-party add-on/plugin. OpenPGP keypairs can be generated, imported or exported. Public keys of other users can be imported through file or in-line text and can also be downloaded from OpenPGP Web Key Directory or Public key servers.

Full OpenPGP interoperability

Users can communicate with any OpenPGP compatible service provider.

Warrant canary and transparency report

The service maintains an up-to-date transparency report and

warrant canary A warrant canary is a method by which a communications service provider aims to inform its users that the provider has been served with a government subpoena despite legal prohibitions on revealing the existence of the subpoena. The warrant canar ...

References

External links

* {{Official website, https://mailfence.com/ Webmail Cross-platform software Security software Cryptographic software Secure communication Internet privacy software Internet properties established in 2013 OpenPGP