Mailfence

Mailfence is a secure and encrypted email service that offers OpenPGP based end-to-end encryption and digital signatures. It was launched in November 2013 by ContactOffice Group, which has been operating an online collaboration suite for universities and other organizations since 1999.[1]

Mailfence
Logo of Mailfence
Screenshot of Mailfence website, showing the user's inbox.
Type of site
Webmail
Available inEnglish, Spanish, French, German, Dutch, Italian, Portuguese and Russian
OwnerContactOffice Group
URLmailfence.com
CommercialYes
RegistrationRequired
Launched12 November 2013 (2013-11-12)
Current statusOnline
Content license
Proprietary

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.[2] In January 2021, Mailfence released progressive web application for mobile devices.[3]

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.[4]

Features

Mailfence provides secure email features, with other functions such as Calendar, Contacts, Documents and Collaboration.[5] Encryption and Two-factor authentication are available in the free version of the product. Most other features are only available with paid subscriptions.

Email

The service supports POP/IMAP and Exchange ActiveSync[6] as well as vanity domains with SPF, DKIM, DMARC[7] and catch-all address support.[8] 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 and filters for incoming emails.[9]

Contacts

The contacts support (CSV, vCard, LDIF) import, (vCard, PDF) export and can be accessed using CardDAV.[10] Users organize them with tags and can also create contact lists.

Calendar

The calendar supports vCal/iCal import, export and can be accessed by using CalDAV.[11] Users can share their calendars with group members and can also create polls.[12]

Documents

The documents can be accessed using WebDAV or edited online. Users can drag and drop files in folders, categorize them with tags take notes by setting comment on each file.[13]

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.[14]

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.[15][16]

User management

Account owners can create and manage user accounts using the admin console.[17]

Server location

Since their servers are located in Belgium,[18] they are legally outside of US jurisdiction. Mailfence is therefore not subjected to US gag orders and NSLs, notwithstanding extradition treaties with the US.[19][20] Under Belgian law, all national and international surveillance requests must go through a Belgian court.[21]

Security and privacy

Aside from conventional security and privacy features including managing access or generating specific password for web and non-web services,[22] two-factor authentication,[23] spam protection alongside of plus addressing,[24] sender address blacklist[25] and whitelist,[26] Mailfence offers following features:

Transport security

The service uses TLS with ephemeral key exchange to encrypt all internet traffic between users and Mailfence servers. HSTS, MTA-STS and DANE standards are also supported.[27][28][29]

End-to-end encryption

The service uses an open-source implementation of OpenPGP (RFC 4880) for emails.[30] OpenPGP keypair is generated in client-browser, encrypted (via AES256) with the user's passphrase, and then stored on Mailfence server.[31][32] 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.[33]

OpenPGP signatures

The service gives the choice between "signing", or "signing and encrypting" an email message with or without attachments.[34]

Integrated Keystore

The service provides an integrated keystore to manage OpenPGP keys,[35] and does not require any third-party add-on/plugin. OpenPGP keypairs can be generated, imported or exported.[36] 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.[37][38]

Full OpenPGP interoperability

Users can communicate with any OpenPGP compatible service provider.[39]

Warrant canary and transparency report

The service maintains an up-to-date transparency report and warrant canary.[40][41]

See also

References
  1. "ContactOffice launch and users". 29 December 2016.
  2. "BETA launch of a pure end-to-end encrypted email solution that gives you full control". 10 March 2016. Retrieved 25 May 2016.
  3. "Mailfence mobile app goes out of beta". 14 January 2021. Retrieved 14 January 2021.
  4. "Mailfence email servers blocked in Russia". 5 March 2020. Retrieved 5 March 2020.
  5. Leonard, John. "Escape from Yahoo: Nine encrypted email alternatives". Retrieved 11 October 2016.
  6. Skjefstad, Vegard. "Secure and Private E-mail: A Provider Overview". Archived from the original on 21 September 2015. Retrieved 1 August 2015.
  7. "Spoofing defense for Custom domains: SPF, DKIM, DMARC". 8 January 2018. Retrieved 8 January 2018.
  8. "Mailfence Release Notes Dec 2017". 5 December 2017. Retrieved 5 December 2017.
  9. "Mailfence Release Notes May 2017". 30 May 2017. Retrieved 30 May 2017.
  10. "Mailfence Contacts: a secure contact management software". 28 February 2018. Retrieved 27 June 2018.
  11. "Mailfence Calendar: a secure online calendar to schedule, manage and track meetings & events". 31 October 2017. Retrieved 9 March 2018.
  12. "Mailfence Polls: simple and secure meeting scheduler". 28 November 2017. Retrieved 28 November 2017.
  13. "Mailfence Documents: secure file sharing, storage and collaboration". 9 November 2017. Retrieved 9 November 2017.
  14. "Mailfence Groups: secure group collaboration". 5 September 2017. Retrieved 5 September 2017.
  15. "How to encrypt email with Gmail and Outlook.com or any other provider". Retrieved 11 October 2017.
  16. "POP3 vs IMAP vs Exchange ActiveSync. What's the difference?". Retrieved 22 September 2017.
  17. "Manage your users with the mailfence admin console". 21 March 2019. Retrieved 21 March 2019.
  18. "The Mailfence SSL/TLS Certificate". Retrieved 10 June 2016.
  19. "United States Extradition Treaty with Belgium".
  20. "United States Supplemental Extradition Treaty with Belgium".
  21. "Mailfence privacy policy". Archived from the original on 18 July 2014. Retrieved 12 November 2013.
  22. "Harden your Mailfence account". Retrieved 5 May 2020.
  23. Davis, Josh. "Two Factor Auth (2FA)". Retrieved 12 December 2016.
  24. "Plus addressing to filter email". Retrieved 18 October 2016.
  25. "Mailfence Release Notes March 2018". 13 March 2018. Retrieved 13 March 2018.
  26. "Blacklist a specific sender address". Retrieved 23 July 2019.
  27. "SSL Report: mailfence.com". Qualys SSL Labs. 10 June 2016. Retrieved 14 January 2021.
  28. "MTA-STS validator - Mail Hardener tools". Retrieved 27 July 2022.
  29. "DANE SMTP Validator". Retrieved 14 January 2021.
  30. Sparrow, Elijah. "OpenTechFund/secure-email". GitHub. Retrieved 9 September 2016.
  31. "Mailfence end-to-end encryption and digital signatures". 25 July 2016. Retrieved 25 July 2016.
  32. "The 3 Most Secure & Encrypted Email Providers Online". Retrieved 20 January 2017.
  33. "Password encrypted messages based on symmetric encryption". Retrieved 1 September 2016.
  34. Thomas, Mike. "A (mostly) In Depth Review of Mailfence". Archived from the original on 20 December 2016. Retrieved 1 September 2016.
  35. Schürmann, Dominik. "OpenPGP Email encryption. For all operating systems. Standing the test of time". Retrieved 1 September 2016.
  36. Tschabitscher, Heinz. "Encrypted email services keep your messages private". Retrieved 3 June 2018.
  37. "Mailfence's OpenPGP keystore gives full control over key management". 17 May 2017. Retrieved 17 May 2017.
  38. "Mailfence keeps on improving security for its users". 22 December 2021. Retrieved 22 December 2021.
  39. "Encrypted email service providers". v. Archived from the original on 18 May 2016. Retrieved 25 May 2016.
  40. "Transparency Report and Warrant Canary". 29 April 2016. Retrieved 29 April 2016.
  41. "Service review". Retrieved 20 February 2019.
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