MTS and Rostelecom blocked ProtonMail secure mail at the request of the FSB

Russian telecom operators MTS and Rostelecom, at the request of the FSB, blocked 26 IP addresses. With reference to the letter of department of February 25, 2019 the TechMedia company reported about it through own blog platform "Habr". Later, a copy of the letter was published in the ZaTelecom telegram channel.

More. Among those blocked are the ProtonMail mail service and the exit nodes of the Tor anonymous network. In addition to the secure Swiss mail service, Mailfence, YOPmail and Mail.bg were included in the agency's list. In a letter sent to telecom operators, the FSB indicated that the addresses needed to be blocked for the safety of the Universiade in Krasnoyarsk and because of the "aggravation of the operational situation." According to the intelligence service, false information about the terrorist attacks in Russia in January 2019 was spread through these services.

• The web version of ProtonMail is still available to Russian users. Blocking by other operators has not yet been reported.
• ProtonMail is a basic, free email service with end-to-end encryption and a VPN option to bypass blocking, which is supported by the Swiss Proton Technologies.
• Registration on ProtonMail is possible without providing personal data.
• The content of the messages is not available to third parties, and the personal data of customers are protected by strict Swiss law, the developers assure.
• ProtonMail points out that it has an anti-illegal activity department that no one has contacted: "A block like this doesn't make sense, so we suspect it's something else."

Anton Baev