This weekend continuous DDoS attacks and an infrastructure issue led to downtimes for hundreds of users. While we were
able to mitigate most of the DDoS, an overreacting IP-block to fight the attacks led to hundreds of users not being
able to access Tutanota for multiple hours this Sunday. We deeply apologize for this mistake; it has now been fixed.
Here we want to quickly explain why we have to build the DDoS mitigation ourselves, how the progress is so far, and
what you can expect as next steps. Thank you very much for supporting our fight against the attackers and for our right
to privacy!
Tutanota is still being under DDoS by unknown adversaries. We are constantly mitigating the attacks. These attacks have
been ongoing since middle of August, and while we have immensely improved our DDoS mitigation system since then, we have
to keep fighting the attacks to make sure no one can stop you from using encrypted emails. We deeply thank all our users for
bearing with us during this difficult time. Now is the time to support us and our fight for privacy to show the attackers
that they will not be successful!
This Saturday a DDoS campaign was launched against the secure email service Tutanota, which led to a downtime of
several hours until we were able to mitigate this complex attack. Here we would like to explain how the attack
affected Tutanota. We deeply apologize for the downtime and thank all our users for bearing with us during this difficult time.
We are currently reviewing and improving our DDoS protection to mitigate similar attacks faster in the future.
We are happy to announce that we have completed the calendar invites feature. As calendar invites are mainly used by
businesses,
this feature is part of the new Business feature. You can now invite anyone to an event
that you created in your encrypted calendar - even people who are not using Tutanota (yet)!
Today's landmark decision for privacy rights by the European Court of Justice invalidates Privacy Shield - a US-EU agreement.
Privacy Shield was passed to give Silicon Valley tech companies easier access to the European market. This special arrangement
for US companies is now null and void. If the US wants to re-establish a similar agreement, they first need to
drastically change their surveillance laws.
Webmail has become incredibly popular. Everybody has at least one free webmail account: Gmail, Yahoo,
Outlook.com, and GMX are some of the most popular webmail services. However, as we learn how the web works, how
companies manipulate us, how free email services abuse our data, the time has come to sign up for a secure alternative.
US authorities have long waged a war against encryption. Now the so-called crypto wars have reached another devastating
height with the introduction of the Lawful Access to Encrypted Data Act by Senators Graham, Blackburn, and Cotton. This
bill is worse than the previously introduced EARN IT bill. As a secure email provider focusing on protecting everyone's
right to privacy, we strongly oppose this law. Act now to stop EARN IT and the Lawful Access to Encrypted Data Act.
Facebook just lost an appeal in a case stating that the social media giant violated antitrust laws. The Federal Court
of Justice in Germany confirmed a prohibition order by the German Cartel Office that leads to strict regulations and ultimately stops the unlimited
data collection of Facebook.
The Tutanota email client has never used any racially insensitive terms such as blacklist. However, in solidarity with
the Black Lives Matter movement, we have now revised our FAQ and How-to to replace some phrases with neutral
descriptions.
When email was invented decades ago, no one took privacy concerns into consideration. Email became the main tool for
private and business communication. For many, email became the replacement of letters. Yet, email privacy lags far behind the privacy
of a letter. While this issue was neglected at first, today everyone understands that an email is as private as a
postcard. Now is the time to act upon this knowledge.
Internet users in the USA accuse Google of spying on their surfing habits - even when browsing the web in 'private mode'.
Now they want to fight for damages with a $5 billion lawsuit.
Parents that use the internet act like small children when playing 'Hide and Seek': Toddlers just cover their eyes when hiding, thinking
if they can't see themselves, no one else can see them either. That's how parents handle their kids' data: When they store
events and pictures on online servers, they keep telling themselves that only they can access the data. It is, after all,
protected with a password.
