Welcome to DU!
The truly grassroots left-of-center political community where regular people, not algorithms, drive the discussions and set the standards.
Join the community:
Create a free account
Support DU (and get rid of ads!):
Become a Star Member
Latest Breaking News
General Discussion
The DU Lounge
All Forums
Issue Forums
Culture Forums
Alliance Forums
Region Forums
Support Forums
Help & Search
Crypto experts blast German e-mail providers’ “secure data storage” claim
http://arstechnica.com/business/2013/08/crypto-experts-blast-german-e-mail-providers-secure-data-storage-claim/In the wake of the shutdown of two secure e-mail providers in the United States, three major German e-mail providers have banded together to say that they’re stepping forward to fill the gap. There’s just one problem: the three companies only provide security for e-mail in transit (in the form of SMTP TLS) and not actual secure data storage.
GMX, T-Online (a division of Deutsche Telekom), and Web.de—which serve two-thirds of German e-mail users—announced on Friday that data would be stored in Germany and the intiative would “automatically encrypt data over all transmission paths and offer peace of mind that data are handled in compliance with German data privacy laws.” Starting immediately, users who use these e-mail services in-browser will have SMTP TLS enabled, and starting next year, these three e-mail providers will refuse to send all e-mails that do not have it enabled.
"Germans are deeply unsettled by the latest reports on the potential interception of communication data," said René Obermann, CEO of Deutsche Telekom, in a statement. "Our initiative is designed to counteract this concern and make e-mail communication throughout Germany more secure in general. Protection of the private sphere is a valuable commodity."
These companies have dubbed this effort “E-mail made in Germany,” and tout “secure data storage in Germany as a reputable location.” In practice, that appears (Google Translate) to simply mean that starting in 2014, these providers will “only transport SSL-encrypted e-mails to ensure that data traffic over all of their transmission paths is secure.”
GMX, T-Online (a division of Deutsche Telekom), and Web.de—which serve two-thirds of German e-mail users—announced on Friday that data would be stored in Germany and the intiative would “automatically encrypt data over all transmission paths and offer peace of mind that data are handled in compliance with German data privacy laws.” Starting immediately, users who use these e-mail services in-browser will have SMTP TLS enabled, and starting next year, these three e-mail providers will refuse to send all e-mails that do not have it enabled.
"Germans are deeply unsettled by the latest reports on the potential interception of communication data," said René Obermann, CEO of Deutsche Telekom, in a statement. "Our initiative is designed to counteract this concern and make e-mail communication throughout Germany more secure in general. Protection of the private sphere is a valuable commodity."
These companies have dubbed this effort “E-mail made in Germany,” and tout “secure data storage in Germany as a reputable location.” In practice, that appears (Google Translate) to simply mean that starting in 2014, these providers will “only transport SSL-encrypted e-mails to ensure that data traffic over all of their transmission paths is secure.”