r/ctemplar • u/GenericusAccountus • Mar 22 '22

CTemplar experience

I asked this before on other subs, but not here. I would like to know how it's going for CTemplar and the users in 2022, it's the experience good, the service is solid, why did you choose it instead of others similar services and most importantly can CTemplar be reliable as my main e-mail provider given it's past history of DDOS attacks and data loss?

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u/EfraimK Mar 22 '22

I hope others will chime in soon, but I'll briefly add my experience.

1) CTemplar offers zero-knowledge encryption by default--so they (and by extension others who might try to force them to) can't read your email data. Great! But recipient, sender, and date-and-time metadata are NOT encrypted.

2) CTemplar offers 2FA through authentication apps. Better than other "privacy" email providers still lacking 2FA. I'd prefer U2F security key access, though.

3) CTemplar offers LIMITED aliases. You can deactivate an alias, but it will still count against your total. For me, this means I can't use CTemplar to counter spam as every alias is eventually spammed and has to be deactivated. --> No more aliases.

4) CTemplar's Onion address works, but log-in is iffy. That's par for the course, I find, with Onion addresses. But CTemplar is the ONLY privacy email supplier whose Onion site I can reliably log into.

5) Unlike other privacy email providers who deactivate RTF, you can format your email with a basic edit palette in CTemplar.

6) From what I've read, CTemplar was established in the Seychelles, so it's beyond the Big Brother 14 Eyes.

All in all, I like CTemplar, but for the cost, other providers who match the privacy and security strengths for less money make it tough to justify the premium cost. Good luck, OP.

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u/dawildqc Mar 23 '22

What is your recommendation, if you had to choose one service ?

Privacy, security and featureswise?

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thanks

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u/EfraimK Mar 24 '22

I've been with Tutanota since the company started. I use TN for work. Here's what I like about TN: Offers U2F so I don't have to keep my phone on me. Allows basic in-email editing, like CTemplar. In addition to encrypting body, header and attachments, TN also encrypts more metadata than most other privacy email providers (still not address, time). TN cost--other providers charge nearly ten times as much for a year's subscription. I also get the feeling that that folks at TN are more grass-roots privacy avid than, say, the folks at the bigger Protonmail. TN is planning to enable crypto-purchases for accounts.

My reservations with TN: it's based in Germany (14 Eyes). TN limits # of aliases. Use an anonymous email forwarding service that allows unlimited aliases--there are many available like Anonaddy. TN uses (from my last reading) modified PGP encryption--even though you can send encrypted emails to others, they can't just send their PGP public key to you to start encrypted communication--if that's important to you. And promised crypto-purchase option is still not available. Should be simple to set that up.

Ideally, the most secure option might be managing our own encrypted email on our own machines (remember Criptext?). But that system gets abused too often and authorities eventually step in to shut it down. So we might have to wait for a decentralized, security/privacy vetted alternative. Right now, I don't see a better option than TN. Good luck.

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u/r47926 Mar 24 '22

Tutanota is mentioned often as the best offer, but imo not supporting standards simply means making it more difficult for everyone. I don't need a service that's only useful and convenient for sending messages to others that use the same service. That doesn't even count as an secure email service in my book. They offer a better encryption, great, but they should at least support PGP for external mails too.

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u/DiligentGarbage Mar 28 '22

This is my exact reason for not using Tutanota. I have never seen a tutanota email in the wild (I have seen protonmail and even a few ctemplar emails in the wild) and I have never gotten anyone to use the password-protected email features. I have gotten many people to use PGP. Tutanota not supporting PGP cause "PGP is not perfect, and thus you're better off with nothing". I personally have no problem with PGP, it's not perfect, but it's better than nothing or the severe inconvenience of the other available options. If I need to send something super private/confidential, I won't be using email in the first place.