Andy Yen, the CEO of Proton (Mail, Drive, VPN, Pass…) answered a lot of the questions you, the community, asked, in an interview that covers basically everything! He discusses security, privacy, the origins of Proton, how they operate, Linux support, future projects, products and features, quantum computing, passkeys, and more!
About Proton
Proton is a Swiss-based company that offers a suite of privacy-focused services, including Proton Mail, Proton Calendar, Proton Drive, and Proton VPN. The company was founded in 2014 by a group of scientists who met at CERN and were driven by a shared vision of building a more secure and private internet.
Proton’s mission is to make online privacy accessible to everyone. They believe that privacy is a fundamental human right, and they work to protect their users’ data and communications through end-to-end encryption and strong security measures.
The company is headquartered in Geneva, Switzerland, and has a team of over 400 employees from around the world. They are committed to transparency and openness, and they regularly publish transparency reports detailing any requests they receive from governments and law enforcement agencies.
In summary, the company behind proton.me is Proton, a privacy-focused company that offers a suite of secure and encrypted services to help protect their users’ data and communications.
About Andy Yen
Andy Yen is a physicist with a Ph.D. from Harvard University and a degree in Economics from Caltech. He is the founder and CEO of Proton Technologies, the company behind ProtonMail, a popular encrypted email service. Andy is a strong advocate for privacy rights and has been vocal about the need for encrypted communication tools in today’s digital world. Under his leadership, Proton has grown to over 50 million registered users and has expanded its product offerings to include Proton Drive and Proton Calendar, both of which are end-to-end encrypted. Andy’s vision for Proton is to create a more secure and private internet for everyone, and he continues to work towards that goal.
Andy Yen, CEO of @protonprivacy explains why your email address is so important to control. Why does it matter so much that we let Google own this piece of ID? https://t.co/V2W3yhRFZJ pic.twitter.com/iy3eaa2HHC
— Josh | All Things Secured (@all_secured) January 16, 2024
Key Points from the Video
- Proton started as an open-source project at CERN in response to the Snowden leaks to provide secure email. Email acts as your digital identity and separating it from companies like Google gives you control over your data (timestamp).
- Proton focuses on building an ecosystem of privacy-friendly products like ProtonMail, ProtonVPN, ProtonDrive etc. to allow users to fully opt out of platforms like Google and Facebook that profit from user data (timestamp).
- Proton is committed to open standards and bringing new products and features across platforms while prioritizing security. Products may launch earlier on some platforms than others due to technical challenges (timestamp).
- Proton differs from competitors through its experience building secure products over 10+ years and through being independently funded, allowing it to prioritize security over growth or profit (timestamp).
- Proton aims to make its products feature-comparable to major platforms like Gmail to provide a viable alternative while protecting user privacy and data (timestamp).
I use Proton and they get my full endorsement as a customer for the past two years.