What’s ENS

ENS is the Ethereum Name Service - a decentralized domain name system built on Ethereum. ENS allows users to assign human-readable names to wallet addresses, websites, and other blockchain-based assets. Instead of using long, complex hexadecimal addresses (like 0x0BC607Af865024eFc70DA2374E4552201725ADe6), ENS enables users to send funds or interact with decentralized applications using simple names like 'skiff.eth'.

Benefits of using ENS

1. Simplicity: ENS simplifies using Ethereum addresses easier because it replaces long hexadecimal strings with shorter, memorable, and human-readable names. The likelihood of making a typo is also much lower!

2. Versatility: ENS is not just for Ethereum addresses. It can be used to name other cryptocurrency addresses, decentralized websites, and more.

3. Ownership and Control: As ENS domains are based on blockchain, users have full control over their domain without reliance on a centralized registrar. This decentralization gives you autonomy over your identity on the web, unlike a centralized username on a single provider.

4. Decentralization and Censorship Resistance: Being on the Ethereum blockchain makes it resistant to censorship and centralized control. It’s impossible for a single entity to censor an ENS name.

5. Interoperability: ENS has been integrated with many wallets and services - including Skiff Mail - making it widely accepted and easy to use in the blockchain ecosystem.

How to add your ENS name on Skiff

First, sign up or sign in with your wallet. You can use MetaMask, Brave Wallet, Coinbase Wallet, or more to sign up.

If your wallet has ENS records set, it will automatically be added as an email alias. Then, follow the 15 second video below to set your ENS as your default email address:

Questions?

Feel free to contact us on Twitter, or post on our Subreddit or Discord. We hope this guide was helpful!

Skiff Domains take all the pain out of domain registration for your own privacy-first, end-to-end encrypted mail address. Instead of configuring MX, CNAME, and TXT records, you can now simply sign up, open Skiff Mail, and purchase a domain that will be automatically configured to receive mail privately on Skiff.

Skiff Domains help you go from Mail users to a professional custom domain - for your business, family, or personal projects - in seconds.

How to use Skiff Domains

To start, open Skiff Mail, and click into the settings page inside Skiff Mail. Then, click on the “custom domains” tab on the left. Or, click this link to go directly to custom domain settings → https://app.skiff.com/mail?settingTab=custom+domains.

From this settings page, you can create, purchase, or manage all of your custom domains. This includes adding domains that you already own using DNS record verification, adding aliases for domains that are already verified, and purchasing new domains on Skiff.

To start with buying a domain, click “Buy custom domain.” Then, you’ll be prompted with an input field to search for a new domain. Once you’ve entered a search term, you’ll view suggested domains with different endings. Once you’ve selected your preferred domain, simply click on it, and you will be redirected to a checkout page to sign up for a subscription for your domain.

After checkout is complete - congratulations! Your domain is now ready for use on Skiff Mail. Note that you may have to wait 3-5 minutes for DNS records to propagate.

Price, cost, and registration

To purchase a domain through Skiff Domains, you’ll have to be a Skiff Pro or Skiff Business subscriber with access to custom domains.

Then, follow the guide above to purchase your domain. After waiting a few minutes, it will be set up with all needed DNS records for sending and receiving mail. Then, visit the alias tab (via this link) and click “add alias” under your domain to add email addresses. Anyone shared on your workspace will also be able to use aliases at this domain.

Why use Skiff Domains?

Managing a domain name and DNS records can be frustrating and tedious, as you have to transfer them from the original source, wait for them to update, and fix any typos or errors. Purchasing a one-click domain through Skiff avoids all of this complexity, allowing you to simply click and checkout to send email from a custom domains.

Adding aliases

Adding aliases with a Skiff domain is as simple as using any other custom domain. Once purchased and verified, you’ll see your Skiff domain at the bottom of the custom domains settings page (inside the “Manage domains” section). There, click the … dropdown and “add alias;” you’ll then be able to add any alias, including a one-character alias.

Questions?

If you have any questions, reach out to us in-app via the “send feedback” button, on Twitter, on Discord, or on Reddit.

FAQ

What happens if I cancel my account?

If you cancel your subscription, your domain will no longer be renewed. As long as your subscription and payment information is active, your domain will continue to be renewed and work with Skiff Mail.

Can I send and receive calendar invites?

Yes! Any Skiff Domains purchased domain works natively for Skiff Calendar as well. All invites will be sent from the alias you’ve set as your default email alias from inside Skiff Mail.

What aliases can be created?

There is no limit on the length and type of aliases. So, if you want a one-character alias, go for it!

How many aliases can be created?

Unlimited aliases can be added per domain, just like any custom domain.

Below, check out several of Skiff’s biggest accomplishments.

Import your files from Google Drive to Skiff

January 11, 2022

Skiff kicked off 2022 by asking itself how it could make it easier for users to get their data off of anti-privacy platforms such as Google Drive onto privacy-respecting end-to-end encrypted services such as Skiff. The answer it came up with is to allow users to securely transfer all of their Google Docs onto Skiff simply by pressing a button. Skiff is end-to-end encrypted. There’s no setting to toggle. Privacy isn’t optional. Skiff is completely private from the first time you use it and no one but you can ever access your data — not even Skiff.

Skiff Partners with Coinbase Commerce for private payments

February 17, 2022

We teamed up with Coinbase Commerce to allow users to easily, privately, and securely purchase a Skiff Pro plan using self-service crypto payments. To use crypto payments, just navigate to the “Plans” page in Skiff’s settings and click the “Upgrade with crypto” button. You’ll see the option to purchase Skiff Pro with a Coinbase account or using any crypto wallet. BTC, ETH, and USDC are supported, with more coming soon. Once you’ve chosen your preferred cryptocurrency, just submit the transaction and enjoy using Skiff Pro immediately.

Skiff Workspaces

February 28, 2022

Skiff releases Workspaces, an all-new way to privately collaborate with your team. Skiff Workspaces was later updated in November to include custom domains and other user features; read more here to learn about Skiff Workspaces.

File storage and document templates

April 12, 2022

As a precursor to the Drive launch, we released file storage inside documents. Every Skiff page now supports embedding any file type - with end-to-end encryption and complete privacy. If you have IPFS decentralized storage enabled on your account, the file is stored end-to-end encrypted and fully decentralized on IPFS. In addition, whether you want to write up technical documentation or keep a daily journal, Skiff’s new template feature has you covered. Choose a template whenever you create a new page. It’s that easy.

Skiff drops Mac Desktop application

April 18, 2022

Skiff recognizes that Mac desktop applications are widely used by a significant number of people around the world. According to Apple, as of 2021, the Mac has a global installed base of over 100 million users. This suggests that there is a large and diverse user base for Mac desktop applications. As of April 18, Skiff Users can now use Skiff as a native Mac application with the macOS app.

Check out our downloads, including the latest Mac app, here → https://skiff.com/download.

Launch of Skiff Mail

May 2, 2022

Skiff Mail is end-to-end encrypted, private, open-source email that protects your inbox and gives you the power to communicate freely. On May 2, Skiff announced its Alpha launch of the mail product. Members of the Skiff discord were participants in this rollout.

Skiff Mail iOS App

May 4, 2022

Skiff announced the release of its iOS application for its mail service. You can download the application here.

Skiff Mail public launch

May 17, 2022

On this day, Skiff Mail launched to the public and was featured in the Verge. Below is an excerpt from the article:

“Skiff has spent the last couple of years developing a privacy-focused, collaborative document editing platform that you could most succinctly describe as ‘encrypted Google Docs.’ Now, it’s coming for Gmail. The company is launching an email service called Skiff Mail that aims to be, well, encrypted Gmail — and eventually much more than that.”

Skiff Drive launches

June 15, 2022

Upload and share end-to-end encrypted, private files from your same Skiff account. A cloud storage drive is a type of online storage service that allows users to store, retrieve, and share digital files and data over the internet. Cloud storage drives typically offer a large amount of storage space that can be accessed from any device with an internet connection. Skiff’s Drive offering is a privacy-first, secure offering that sets it apart from all legacy providers. For more info, visit https://skiff.com/drive.

Improvements to the Skiff Suite

July through September, 2022

After launching Skiff Drive, Skiff made numerous meaningful improvements to its product suite. On July 2nd, Skiff added custom email signatures, a long-awaited and highly requested feature. On July 13th, we launched a new “schedule send” feature, allowing users to choose a date, time, and timezone for their email to be sent out into the world. To conclude its busy month of July, on July 25th we launched an “undo send” feature, allowing users to bring back an email into their drafts in the five seconds after sending an email.

On August 1st, Skiff released its signature manager, allowing users to customize their signature in every email, and on August 25th, it dropped a new “auto-reply” feature—allowing users to compose an auto-reply message and subject for when they need to send an immediate response. Lastly, September was filled with numerous mobile improvements such as app-switching functionality, a new settings page, and multiple account login.

Skiff Integrates with Keplr Wallet

October 4, 2022

Now users can sign up and use the domain @keplr.xyz with their Keplr Wallet. Keplr is an open-source, non-custodial, multi-chain wallet that allows users to store, manage, and interact with their digital assets on various blockchain networks. The wallet supports a wide range of assets, including cryptocurrencies and stablecoins. One of the main features of Keplr is its integration with the Cosmos ecosystem, which enables users to seamlessly interact with decentralized applications (DApps) and decentralized finance (DeFi) protocols built on the Cosmos network.

Keplr also supports other popular blockchain networks, making it a versatile wallet for managing a diverse range of digital assets. Keplr offers a user-friendly interface and is available on desktop and mobile devices. It also includes security features, such as seed phrase recovery and biometric authentication, to help protect user accounts and assets. Overall, Keplr is a feature-rich wallet that provides a convenient and secure way for users to manage and interact with their digital assets on multiple blockchain networks. By partnering with Keplr, Skiff demonstrated its commitment to building for a more privacy-centric, decentralized world. Read more on our blog → https://skiff.com/blog/skiff-x-keplr.

Integration with custom domains

October 11, 2022

Users can add their Solana wallet to send and receive mail via their Bonfida SOL name and the domain solana.email. For context, Solana is a fast, secure, and scalable blockchain platform that is designed to support a wide range of decentralized applications (DApps). It is possible that you are referring to a decentralized application (DApp) built on the Solana platform that allows users to send and receive emails in a decentralized manner.

Skiff announces new paid plans

October 31, 2022

New paid plans, including custom domains, more aliases, and up to 1 TB of storage, are now out. You can check out these new paid plans on the Skiff website. Hundreds of domains are already being used to send mail privately on Skiff.

Skiff Calendar launches

December 6, 2022

Skiff Calendar is end-to-end encrypted, keeping your events private to you. All event names, descriptions, locations, and external attendees are end-to-end encrypted. Skiff calendar is also intuitive, easy to use, and compatible with invites and RSVPs from any other digital calendar. Try it at https://skiff.com/calendar or https://app.skiff.com/calendar.

A digital calendar is an important tool for managing and organizing one's schedule and tasks. It can help individuals and teams stay on top of deadlines, appointments, meetings, and other commitments. Using a digital calendar can help improve productivity by providing a centralized, organized place for scheduling and tracking tasks and events. It can also help teams stay coordinated and reduce the risk of scheduling conflicts.

Overall, a digital calendar is a valuable tool for managing and organizing one's schedule and tasks, and can help improve productivity in both individual and team settings. Check it out here → https://skiff.com/calendar.

Skiff Calendar and Drive in Forbes

December 12, 2022

The Skiff Calendar and Drive launch to the public was announced in Forbes by journalist Rashi Shrivastava. At this point, the Skiff products had grown to over 350,000 users, millions of emails sent and received, and a complete ecosystem of privacy-first workspace products for communicating and collaborating. Skiff Calendar is end-to-end encrypted, private, and integrates directly with Skiff Mail for all events and RSVPs, even with other digital calendars.

Wrapping up

Thank you for supporting us this year - we are so grateful to our community members and all Skiff users.

Questions? Feedback? Reach out to us on Twitter, Discord, Reddit, or support@skiff.org.

In only one year, we’ve launched four products - Mail, Calendar, Pages, and Drive - and signed up over a quarter million people to our private, end-to-end encrypted email, collaboration, and communication products.

We’ve also launched iOS apps, Android apps, and a macOS desktop app for using Skiff products on your native devices.

We’re incredibly grateful to Skiff’s users, Pro subscribers, and Business users, as well as to our tens of thousands of community members across our Discord, Twitter, Reddit, and more.

To another great year!

We at Skiff are thrilled to announce that Coinbase Wallet can now be used to log into Skiff. We’ve long had Coinbase Wallet as an option for adding wallet aliases to your mail account, but this new integration brings a full login experience for Coinbase Wallet users.

What’s Coinbase Wallet?

Coinbase Wallet is a self-custodial wallet product that works on Android, iOS, and web browsers. It allows users to store, send, and receive assets on Ethereum and all EVM-compatible chains, as well as Solana, Bitcoin, and more. This means your wallet will store addresses for all of these chains, including an Ethereum address, a Bitcoin wallet, and more. Coinbase Wallet is developed by Coinbase, one of the leading digital currency exchanges with over 100 million users worldwide.

In this blog, we’ll cover how Coinbase Wallet works, briefly review its privacy and security features, and how you can use it to sign into a Skiff account.

How does Coinbase Wallet work?

Generally, Coinbase Wallet works similarly to other popular, self-custodial browser and mobile wallets, including MetaMask and Rainbow. An Ethereum wallet is a digital wallet that allows you to store, send, and receive Ethereum. You can think of it like a bank account for your Ethereum. Just like a bank account, you need a wallet to store Ethereum or interact with smart contracts.

There are many different types of wallets, including many non custodial wallets, where users manage their own public keys and private keys. Your private key is like your bank account number - it allows you to sign messages, send digital assets, and transfer your funds to a new account. If someone else gets your private key, they effectively own your wallet. For more security minded users, a hardware wallet (like Ledger or Trezor) could yield additional security.

A self-custodial wallet means only users have access to their private keys - never a tech company or exchange, including Coinbase. In this way, the wallet functions like a password manager, where each cryptocurrency address has an associated secret (private key) that is stored encrypted with a user’s password. Similar to other self-custodial wallets, Coinbase Wallet provides a seed phrase that can be used for migration and backup.

Coinbase Wallet has become quite popular given its ease of use and possible integrations with a Coinbase account, which adds many different use cases. For example, you can easily transfer ETH to and from a linked Coinbase account, and you can also buy and sell NFTs (Coinbase recently launched an NFT marketplace). Furthermore, because Coinbase Wallet is a self-custodial Ethereum wallet, you can easily transfer wallets in and out of the wallet using a 12 word recovery phrase. We’ll briefly cover some similarly popular wallets but encourage you to do your own research when choosing a wallet.

Coinbase Wallet privacy and account features

Similar to MetaMask, Phantom, and other leading browser-based wallets, Coinbase Wallet is completely non-custodial - meaning users, and not corporations, control their private keys. This is a critical security distinction for multiple reasons, including user privacy, account control, and recovery.

Privacy: By making Coinbase Wallet non-custodial, Coinbase has no way to access, recover, or repurpose user funds. This follows directly in the crypto ethos of decentralizing financial control to users.

Account management: On Coinbase Wallet, you can link a wallet with your Coinbase account, allowing you to easily transfer funds between the two. This feature is unique to Coinabse Wallet and is not necessarily possible on another wallet, like MetaMask. However, even when the two accounts are collected, the Coinbase Wallet address remains completely non-custodial, so all exchanges and transfers must be recorded by the Ethereum blockchain.

Account recovery: Account recovery is a major challenge for non-custodial wallets as users are the only ones who have access to their private keys. If a private key is lost, misplaced, or compromised, an exchange (like Coinbase.com) cannot help users recover their account. As a result, Coinbase Wallet contains some backup features, such as a sync with Google Drive and iCloud.

We at Skiff never recommend backing up your crypto wallet seed phrases to cloud storage that is not end-to-end encrypted. Instead, use a security minded, end-to-end encrypted cloud storage platform like Skiff Drive. We also wrote a lengthy blog post comparing encrypted cloud storage providers.

Tutorial: Sign up now

To sign up for a Skiff account using Coinbase Wallet, first install Coinbase Wallet. Then, visit the Skiff signup page and click “Connect Wallet.” From there, select Coinbase Wallet, and you will be prompted to sign an attestation phrase proving you own a particular wallet address. Then, you’ll download recovery information and immediately be redirected to your inbox, drive, and workspace.

Now, authentication is complete, and you can enjoy fully private, end-to-end encrypted mail, drive, and collaboration based on your wallet.

We’ve also bulit at the frontier of Web3, integrating login with crypto wallets and decentralized storage built on the InterPlanetary File System (IPFS). With these launches and updates, we’ve become closer and closer to the workspace of the future - a completely private, user owned workspace for collaborating and communicating.

Our partnership with BitKeep brings us closer to this reality, bringing an entirely new form of utility to all 6,000,000 BitKeep users and enhancing trust, private communication, and collaboration abilities for the web.

What’s BitKeep?

BitKeep is designed to be a safe, easy-to-use multichain wallet for Web3. BitKeep is available on all major platforms, including iOS and Android, where it can be downloaded both from on-device app stores, added for iOS beta testing, or installed as an APK directly onto an Android device.

BitKeep also offers swap functionality for exchanging hundreds of thousands of tokens, as well as an NFT marketplace for buying, selling, and exchanging assets. The company advertises that over $50 billion is stored in wallets collectively among their users, a staggering amount at scale.

How does wallet login work?

When you select “Connect Wallet” on the login screen, you’ll be provided with a list of wallets that you have enabled on your device and are compatible with Skiff for login. From there, choose “BitKeep,” and sign an attestation proving that you own your wallet address. You’ll then be prompted to create a password, which can be used to sign into the Skiff mobile and desktop apps. On the web, you’ll stay logged in with your new account.

From there, you’ll be given an option to set up your inbox or Drive/Pages apps first. We suggest selecting inbox, then viewing your new wallet aliases. In addition to the typical @skiff.com, you’ll be given an @bitkeep.app alias that proves you’re sending from your BitKeep wallet address. How to set up your .bitkeep.app alias Once you’ve signed up for Skiff using your BitKeep wallet, you will automatically be given an alias with the suffix @bitkeep.app with your Ethereum address. You can use this as an email address to send and receive email, which makes it completely private and anonymous. You can always create new wallets and link them from the settings page inside the Skiff app. If you’d like, you can also add normal, non-wallet aliases (up to four on the free plan) from inside the settings page as well. Learning more We’ve written up more content on numerous areas for how you can use a wallet with Skiff, including an article on why wallets are great for email addresses, how to send and receive with your ENS name, and a privacy guide for cryptocurrency users. To send feedback or for help, join our Discord, message us on Twitter, or contact support@skiff.org.

After launching an integration with the Ethereum Naming Service, ETH wallets (MetaMask, Coinbase Wallet, Brave Wallet, and more), and the domain ethereum.email, we saw unprecedented demand for users to link their ETH addresses and ENS names directly to a verified address and domain to yield more trustworthy, safe communications.

What is Solana?

Solana is a new cryptocurrency founded by Anatoly Yakovenko, Greg Fitzgerald, Stephen Akridge, and Raj Gokal that is designed to be scalable and fast. It uses a new consensus algorithm called Proof of History, which allows it to process transactions quickly and scale to millions of transactions per second. Solana is also designed to be energy-efficient, using a fraction of the energy of traditional cryptocurrencies.

Solana is a high-performance blockchain that is scalable, secure, and energy-efficient. The team behind Solana includes veterans from Qualcomm, Dropbox, and Google. The project is backed by some of the most well-known investors in the crypto space, including Polychain Capital, Multicoin Capital, and FTX.

Solana’s unique architecture enables it to process thousands of transactions per second, generally with the critique that it involves a higher level of centralization than other cryptocurrencies (notably Ethereum and Bitcoin). The team is also working on layer-2 solutions that will enable Solana to scale even further. Solana is one of the most promising projects in the crypto space, particularly given significantly increased developer activity in the last year. The project has the potential to become the go-to platform for high-performance dapps.

What is Bonfida?

Bonfida’s Solana Naming Service (Bonfida) is a decentralized naming service that allows users to securely and conveniently access decentralized applications (dApps) and services. Bonfida is powered by the Solana blockchain and provides a decentralized alternative to traditional DNS systems.

Bonfidais designed to be highly resilient and scalable, able to handle millions of queries per second. Bonfida is also designed to be user-friendly, allowing users to easily find and use the dApps and services they need. Bonfida is an important part of the Solana ecosystem, providing a critical foundation for the growth of the Solana ecosystem. Bonfida will help to drive adoption of Solana and enable the ecosystem to reach its full potential through better, more user friendly communication and collaboration.

Comparing Solana and Ethereum

Solana is a blockchain platform that is designed to be fast, scalable, and secure. The platform uses a unique Proof of History consensus algorithm that allows it to process transactions quickly and securely. The platform is also designed to be highly scalable, with the ability to process tens of thousands of transactions per second.

Ethereum is a blockchain platform that is designed to be flexible and programmable. The platform allows developers to build decentralized applications (dApps) on top of it. Ethereum also has its own native cryptocurrency, Ether, which is used to power the platform. Recently, Skiff rolled out a collaboration with the Ethereum Naming Service to enable sending and receiving mail at the domain @ethereum.email using ENS domains held by Ethereum wallets. This allows users to send and receive mail private, end-to-end encrypted using their ENS name, thereby giving users control over their identity and communication methods on the web.

Both Solana and Ethereum are popular, flexibble, and well-adopted blockchains with their own unique features and strengths. Solana is faster and more scalable than Ethereum, while Ethereum is more flexible and programmable.

How can you set up a Bonfida name for your wallet?

To set up a Bonfida name for your Solana wallet, you’ll need to start by creating a SOL wallet, either in a mobile app, or using a web browser extension wallet. The most popular Solana wallets include Phantom, Solflare, and Glow - although note that the popular wallet Slope suffered a catastrophic private key breach in mid 2022 due to poor private key management.

Next, check the price of the domain you want. Start by visiting the naming service app and entering the name you want to purchase. You’ll see an amount in the token FIDA, an SPL compatible token with Solana. Remember the amount of FIDA needed, as well as the amount of Solana you need to spend. Using a rough exchange rate to calculate the total amount of SOL you need your wallet to contain.

Head over to an exchange to buy some SOL tokens for your new wallet. Most large exchanges let you purchase and transfer SOL, including Coinbase and Gemini. From there, you’ll need to convert some of that SOL into the amount of FIDA token you need to purchase your name. Depending on your location, the Bonfida app may do this (outside the US), or you can use a DEX (decentralized exchange) such as Raydium, which will enable swapping from SOL to FIDA.

As a final step, launch the Bonfida app and connect your Solana wallet to purchase the name that you want. Once purchased, you’ll be able to configure all sorts of additional properties, such as setting a favorite domain, adding a Twitter handle, or adding other socials and identity info to your on-chain data.

Connecting your .SOL on Skiff

Connecting your .SOL domain to a @solana.email address is quite simple. To start, head over to the Skiff sign up page, or sign in with your existing Skiff account.

If signing up with a new account, choose your Solana wallet (Phantom) and proceed through the sign up steps.

If using an existing account, visit the alias settings page and connect your Solana wallet.

From there, your @solana.email domain will automatically be configured for sending and receiving from your inbox, and your Bonfida .SOL name will also be usable for sending and receiving as well. That’s it!

How can you use your solana.email address?

Your new @solana.email addresses are now usable around the web, including the .SOL domains that you recently purchased. You can use it for signing up for services, communicating with other Solana or Bonfida users, or for personal and professional communications. Just like every message on Skiff Mail, your data remains private to you and encrypted with keys you alone own.

If you decide to transfer or sell one of your domains, they will automatically start forwarding mail to the new wallet address that owns the corresponding domain, thereby keeping your email private and end-to-end encrypted but providing communication utility to its new owner. To learn more about programming using Solana and Bonfida, visit the naming service guide on GitHub here.

It’s an interesting paradox. Sensitive information is being exchanged online in increasing volumes every day, and hackers are getting more clever at finding it. But most people use email that is only superficially encrypted, and thus much more susceptible to a breach.

It’s time to get the word out about encrypted email. This article offers everything you need to know to get started: what encrypted email is, how encrypted email works, why encrypted email is important, who should use encrypted email, how many of your emails you should encrypt, why encryption should go beyond email, and much more. And here’s the kicker: you don’t have to be super tech-savvy to keep up.

We’ll also explain how to find the right encryption email service for you. Thankfully, encrypting your email couldn’t be easier (or more free). Thanks to services like Skiff, you can protect yourself and your inbox without any configuration needed.

What is encrypted email?

You don’t have to be a coder to understand what encrypted email is, or how it functions. Basically, encrypted email is email that has been converted from plain text (the words you receive or write) to an unreadable, undecipherable format. But don’t worry — you’ll still be able to read your emails fine, from urgent work messages, to your tax preparer’s updates, to your recent lab report, to your aunt’s holiday photos (fifteen blurry photos of Niagara Falls, huh?). You’re the only person for whom your inbox is not encrypted, meaning you’re the only one who can read your emails.

That’s right: without encrypted email, you’re not guaranteed to be the only one clicking through your inbox. With encrypted email, your inbox is truly your own, but it’s also a matter of safety and privacy — and you don’t have to be a member of the CIA to benefit from its protections.

How does encrypted email work?

Interested in the nuts and bolts? Well, if you use an email service that supports encryption like Skiff, you don’t have to worry too much about the details. That’s why expert engineers exist, after all. But here’s a description of the process that users who don’t think in binary code can understand.

Email encryption works through cryptography, which is a method of protecting information and communications through the use of codes, similar to how cryptocurrency services protect the Bitcoin in your digital wallet. Usually, email encryption uses “public key” cryptography, which includes two keys of code for each user: one public key, and one private key. While the public key can safely be widely distributed, the private key is known only by the user. That way, the user is the only one who has direct access to their inbox, all while the public key seamlessly allows communication to other parties.

For example, when you receive an email through a provider of end-to-end encryption like Skiff, the email is encrypted using your public key. Then, the email is decrypted using your private key. These two keys work in tandem to encrypt and decrypt your communications without a hitch, so that you aren’t actually interacting with code — you’re simply enjoying the benefits of ultra-secure email.

Interacting with this technology couldn’t be easier, but that’s because it’s the newest, more innovative and intuitive evolution of software programs of the past, such as Pretty Good Privacy (PGP) and Secure Multi-purpose Internet Mail Extension (S/MIME). Released in 1991, PGP encrypts and decrypts email messages using public key cryptography, including techniques still widely used today, such as digital signatures and data compression. S/MIME is built into most encrypted email software services and allows yet another layer of security to a model similar to PGP by requiring users to obtain keys directly from a specific Certificate Authority, a digital entity that acts as a verification tool.

Why is encrypted email important?

Since email was invented, developers have worked on software to encrypt it. After all, using encryption for sensitive material goes all the way back to the Roman Empire, when King Caesar sent encrypted documents to his troops in battle! In our modern world, we are constantly dealing with sensitive information in the digital world, from financial information like bank accounts and credit card numbers, to personal information such as medical records and government-issued identifications, to business-sensitive documents and Non-Disclosure Agreements (NDA). As our lives move more and more online, it makes sense that now, more than ever, there’s a massive need for encrypted email. It’s just the best way to keep your identity, assets, and business dealings safe.

What happens without encrypted email?

Encrypted email isn’t primarily designed to keep your nosy friend out of your inbox. It’s actually made to keep your information safe from strangers, specifically hackers who have made malicious careers from stealing information from unprotected inboxes and using it for identity theft and worse. Here are the most common types of email attacks:

Phishing

Phishing attacks are both successful and take minimal effort on the attacker’s part. Phishing can range from pharming, which involves a hacker sending a user to a malicious website that appears legitimate, to deceptive phishing, which involves threatening on that same kind of site. But the most common phishing tactic associated with malicious emails is spear phishing, which tricks users into revealing personal information, such as their log-in.

Viruses

Viruses involve more planning on the attacker’s part. While email isn’t usually the direct target of a virus, it’s often what lets a virus get in and infiltrate a larger system, such as your computer or a company network, through a malicious email with viruses in its attachments. If you open and download the attachment, the virus is released and begins to steal, exfiltrate, or corrupt (such as ransomware) your information.

Identity theft

Identity theft is the worst of the bunch. You know how your email often automatically logs you into a wide range of other accounts at work and at home? Because email services often come in package deals with other programs, hackers who compromise your email can sift through all the personal and work files that are connected. From there, they can infiltrate the accounts of your coworkers and friends and even pretend to be you in deceptive communications. And if they come across sensitive identifying information, they can pretend to be you on an even larger scale.

Who should use encrypted email?

Everyone is at risk for phishing, viruses, and most importantly, identity theft. For these reasons, all individuals should use encrypted email. But email encryption solutions like Skiff are also a must for people who have confidential business dealings, such as those who work with clients or have international operations, as well as organizations that host their own email services. Any enterprise that transmits sensitive information without encrypted email is at high risk for an extreme cyberattack or data breach. From a business standpoint, repairing the legal and financial damage of a breach can be a huge expense as far as cost and time. And that’s not even including the reputational damage, the reversal of which not always money can always buy.

Should all email be encrypted?

It might be tempting to only encrypt emails that contain sensitive information, such as client information if you operate in a business, or identifying information like your social security number if you’re using email personally. But, if you only encrypt a single email message and an attacker intercepts your email traffic, they will see that most of your email communications are unencrypted. A hacker may take that as an open invitation to easily hack the rest of your inbox.

If you encrypt all your emails, even the most determined hacker will see that after decrypting many messages that contain no sensitive information, your account is not worth their time, and move on.

Is encryption just for email?

Imagine that you encrypt your entire email inbox. Great job! But if you just encrypt your email, any document that you store online, or confidential notes, could be breached, and the repercussions could be just as worse as if you left your email unprotected.

Today many of the programs we use for working, collaborating, and organizing our personal data are only superficially protected from hacking. Thankfully, end-to-end encryption, or what is commonly called E2EE, is gaining in popularity. Services like Skiff offer end-to-end encrypted software for collaborative notes and even documents hosted online, all in a super convenient package with encryption email services. It’s comprehensive protection, made easy.

How to find the right encrypted email service

There are a number of encrypted email services on the market today, including Skiff, ProtonMail, Tutanota, and Hushmail. Here are the features to look out for when evaluating the right encrypted email service for you:

Affordability

Many encrypted email services come with a cost. Skiff has and will always be free to use.

End-to-end encryption

If an encrypted email service doesn’t feature end-to-end encryption, it’s just not as safe. This is a foundational requirement for any service you choose.

Services beyond email

The right encrypted email service will include encryption for all sensitive documents you keep online, such as the notes you keep, the documents you store, and your online collaboration with others.

Ample storage

It’s no use encrypting all your documents and then running out of space the next week. When choosing the right encrypted email service for you, it’s best to aim for about 10 GB of storage.

Extra security

Other services might have some of the characteristics listed above, but Skiff has them all, and is the only end-to-end encrypted provider that can be configured to integrate with decentralized storage. This is yet another level of data ownership, and leaves your files even more protected.

User-friendly features

While other encrypted email providers only allow paid users to search their email inbox, Skiff offers this feature for free. And that’s just the beginning. With Skiff you can log in with MetaMask, easily and seamlessly sync across all devices, create your own custom domain, and easily migrate from your old unencrypted inbox.

How to install encrypted email

Ready to make the leap? All you have to do is sign up. From there, it’s easy and fast to integrate your old, unencrypted email account. And the best part? Your new level of digital safety is totally free.

In this blog, we’ll walk through how Skiff functions as a privacy-respecting, end-to-end encrypted, and fully transparent email solution, collaboration product, and more. For a more technical audience, the article alludes to a new stack for writing software built on new storage models, identity solutions, and simple collaboration methods.

Data storage: E2EE and decentralized

On Skiff, all of your data is end-to-end encrypted and accessible only by you. End-to-end encryption ensures only the communicating parties can read messages, access your data, and decrypt your files. No one in between, not even the service provider (including Skiff), can read any of your content. This is done by each Skiff user generating unique keypairs for encryption and decryption, and then exchanging keys with each other. Messages, files, emails, or other data can be encrypted using the recipient’s public key, and can only be decrypted with their private key, which is kept completely secret. This ensures that even if someone intercepted a message, file, or other content, the malicious actor would not be able to read it.

Working with Protocol Labs, Skiff integrated storage on IPFS - the InterPlanetary File System - to enable a more transparent, distributed, and portable model for people store data and files on the web, all fully privately. The InterPlanetary File System (IPFS) is a protocol and peer-to-peer network designed to create a distributed file system that can be used to store and share data across a network of computers. IPFS is a decentralized alternative to the traditional centralized file systems that are used by most computer systems. IPFS is based on a content-addressable file system, which means that each file is given a unique identifier based on its content, rather than its location. This makes it possible to store and share data across a network of computers without the need for a central server.

IPFS is designed to be scalable and efficient, and it can be used to store and share data of any size; IPFS uses the blockchain-based currency Filecoin to reward storage network participants. IPFS is also designed to be secure, and to provide a high degree of privacy for its users. IPFS is also censorship resistant, wherein a single entity cannot limit or control the content that is stored on the network. Given a content ID (CID) of data stored on IPFS, it can also be easily transferred to other platforms or used by other accounts, significantly increasing data portability in comparison to traditional cloud storage providers (such as Dropbox, Google Drive, etc.).

User identity: Distributed and cryptographic

Signing up for a Skiff account requires absolutely no personally identifiable information (PII). Skiff does not store your email address, phone number, or any additional metadata (location, IP address, device information) on signup, keeping your personal information private to you.

All Skiff user accounts are associated with a distinct cryptographic identity - a set of keypairs for encryption and signing where users (and not Skiff) have access to the private key. Unlike other traditional email services - Gmail, Outlook, Hotmail, and Yahoo - you alone own your identity with the private key and recovery phrase provided to you, or using a distributed naming service (see more below), or with the wallet and on-chain identity that you already own on sign up. Using a cryptocurrency wallet to sign up also enables wallet-to-wallet communication for the first time. This yields increased trust via user-owned, verifiable, and end-to-end encrypted communications with an on-chain identity. Currently, users can sign up with MetaMask, Coinbase Wallet, Brave Wallet, Keplr, and Phantom, or simply create a new email address and password.

Almost a half-century ago, Pretty Good Privacy (PGP) was proposed as a new standard in email encryption. PGP uses public-key cryptography system to protect the confidentiality of email messages. PGP email encryption can be used to secure the contents of email messages as well as the email headers, which contain the sender's and recipient's email addresses. Today, PGP is widely considered dead, largely due to decreasing usage, difficult user experience, and the rise of more simple and intuitive end-to-end encrypted messaging apps, like Signal, that build encryption directly into the product without a worse user experience. For example, it is estimated only 50,000 people (at most) use PGP today, while over 100 million people use Signal every month to communicate. Furthermore, PGP required sharing public keys on a personal site, business card, or through other mechanisms. Using a naming service (like ENS) allows trustworthy, on-chain identity to replace this cumbersome process.

Now, this decentralized consensus algorithm maintains a link between an address (like “skiff.eth”) and the wallet address associated with it, and a wallet address is deterministically created from a public key. In Ethereum's case, the secp256k1 algorithm is used to generate keys, signatures, and secure communications on the Ethereum network. Secp256k1 is used to generate a public/private key pair that can be used to sign transactions and contracts on the Ethereum blockchain. The secp256k1 algorithm is also used by other cryptocurrencies, such as Bitcoin and Litecoin. In contrast, Solana has chosen Curve25519 for its speed and simplicity - another popular elliptic curve choice for many cryptographic purposes also used by Stellar, Algorand, Monero, and others.

Private collaboration: Verifiable and transparent

Collaborating on Skiff can be done using an email identity, a Skiff account, a crypto wallet, or a naming service, like the Ethereum Naming Service or Solana Naming Service. This is designed to clearly associate user identities and accounts with immutable crypto identities - where wallets and naming services can yield significant benefits.

The Ethereum Naming Service (ENS) is a decentralized service that allows users to register and resolve names using the Ethereum blockchain. The service is similar to DNS, but instead of using domain names, ENS uses ETH addresses. ENS is designed to be censorship-resistant and to provide a more user-friendly experience than using raw, 42-character hexadecimal Ethereum addresses.

The Solana Naming Service operates similarly, where users can purchase .SOL names that make it much simpler to collaborate, own digital assets, purchase NFTs, and use your wallet address without having to remember a long, random string of base58 characters.

This model for web3 communication is much simpler, more verifiable, and more transparent than tools used today (generally Telegram or Discord), as all communication is private and to or from an identity determined via private keys or distributed consensus (such as a naming service).

A Simple and intuitive user interface

Good design is straightforward. It doesn’t burden the user with complicated setup or didactic instruction. While the power of Skiff lies in our privacy, end-to-end encryption, and web3-integrations, the technical complexity underpinning our platform doesn’t get in the way of the experience. Instead, Skiff’s suite of products are simple-to-use, well-crafted, and intentional in their design. We make it easy to collaborate, communicate, and create across our Skiff Mail, Pages, and Drive.

Our approach is rooted in first-principles. Mail products, for example, have proliferated for years. But the UX has stagnated so much that “the future of email” now sounds like an oxymoron. Skiff Mail is different – we’ve designed it from the ground up to fit the needs of our digital and crypto-native user-base. From our command palette to one-click import features and ENS support, communicating across the blockchain has never been more delightful.

Ecosystem today

Today, the Skiff Pages product enables end-to-end encrypted realtime collaboration, writing notes, and sharing wikis. The Drive product enables file upload, storage, and sharing - and can also be integrated with IPFS. Finally, Skiff Mail supports private, E2EE communication, both among Skiff users and to external email addresses or email providers, such as Gmail and Outlook.

For the first time, users can contact other email addresses, send messages to wallet addresses, use naming services as their identity around the web, and more. Beyond simply using private products on the Skiff platform, this also enables every user to use a more private identity around the web - signing into other services, receiving newsletters with a wallet email, sending personal communications, and storing critical personal and professional attachments over years.

Conclusion

Taken together, these technologies represent a new stack for building user-facing applications on the internet. Identity is no longer controlled by a single entity and instead owned by users, naming services, and private keys. Storage is end-to-end encrypted, portable across devices, and censorship resistant from a single entity. Interfaces are simple, easy-to-use, and straightforward for users to understand. To experiment with this tech, we highly encourage reading developer docs, experimenting with new encryption libraries, and getting involved with new, privacy-respecting communities.