Upload the private key to the server

Isn’t it unsafe to upload your private key to the server?

You should always carefully consider whether you want to upload your private key to a server.

On your desktop PC or smartphone, you have to trust that the manufacturer of your operating system does not intentionally or negligently leave security vulnerabilities that could allow third parties to access your data. Likewise, you must be able to rely on the fact that the software you use does not independently compromise your security — for example, by collecting and sharing sensitive information.

At mailbox, your private key — if you choose to entrust it to the Guard — is securely stored multiple times and protected with a password known only to you on external storage systems in our data centers.

Whether this is more or less secure is ultimately up to you to decide as a user.

Of course, you have the option not to upload your private key to our servers.
You can still retrieve your encrypted mails via IMAP or POP3 and read them locally using the mail client and PGP program of your choice.

In short: we offer PGP support in the browser to provide you with a good balance of security and convenience. However, this service is entirely optional.