Encrypted email provider Protonmail is looking into developing on the blockchain, as indicated by a job posting on the site seeking a blockchain developer:

Looking forward, we have some exciting blockchain-related ventures underway. You will join our team to lead these projects, which will ultimately make the blockchain easy to use and empower millions of people around the world.

Protonmail has always put an emphasis on privacy and security, which puts its values in line with much of the crypto community. Protonmail already includes Bitcoin as a way of paying for the service, and the crypto community was instrumental in crowdfunding the platform in 2014 after PayPal blocked donations to the site. Now, Protonmail is seeking a developer with expertise in Ethereum smart contracts, ICOs, and wallets, all of which suggest the possibility that Protonmail will introduce its own ERC-20 token.

Traditional email services have privacy and security issues: sites like Google sell advertising space—giving advertisers partial access to the contents of one’s email account—and as on any site, account information can be stolen, and emails can be intercepted by hackers. More innocuously, emails can be deleted if the server runs out of space.

The blockchain can seemingly solve these problems by storing encrypted messages permanently on a decentralized network in a way that is tamper-proof, for the eyes of the recipient only.

What will a blockchain-based ProtonMail look like? Some email services are already built on the blockchain: Cryptamail encrypts its email on the Nxtcoin blockchain. John McAfee’s Swiftmail is another and is based on SwiftCoin. Envilope takes things further than typical encryption: it can also “lock” one’s ability to view an email to a time and place.

Despite being based on the blockchain, most services provide an interface that is familiar to users—perhaps too familiar. Even the most technically advanced security is still subject to human error. The story of a White House staffer who left his secure email password in public is similar to the story of a blogger who accidentally shared his crypto wallet’s private key.

So while it is possible that ProtonMail is merely creating a token offer, it could be restructuring its email platform and security under the hood, or could be going as far as to add new features entirely.

The post ProtonMail Is Adopting the Blockchain—How Will It Change Email Security? appeared first on UNHASHED.

Similar to Notcoin - TapSwap on Solana Airdrops In 2024

origin »

148 +