Skiff (email service)

Last updated

Skiff (email service)
Skiff 2023 Logo.svg
Type of site
 Webmail
Owner Skiff (email service)
Created byAndrew Milich; Jason Ginsberg
Parent Notion
URL skiff.com
CommercialYes
RegistrationNo longer accepted
Users ≈2 million users (2023, November)
Launched2022;2 years ago (2022)
Current statusActive, defunct as of February 9, 2024
Content license
 Open Source

Skiff is an email service startup company and collaboration tool, that provides privacy-friendly end-to-end encrypted Email and Cloud services. [1] [2] [3] The company's commercial strategy is focused in offering to its clients a Source-Available or Open-Source, transparent and audited Email, Calendar, and Cloud Storage services without trackers or advertisements. [4]

Contents

Skiff launched in 2021 and was developed in San Francisco, California. [5] In November 2023, 17 months after launch, it reached almost 2 million users. [6]

Skiff was acquired by Notion on 9 February 2024. Users will have six months to migrate their data before the closure of the services. [7] [8] [9] [10]

History

Skiff was founded by Andrew Milich and Jason Ginsberg in 2020 and was initially focused on providing a secure document editing service similar to Google Docs. [11] While Skiff was in beta, the founders released a public whitepaper explaining how Skiff’s encryption works. [12] [13] Skiff had its public launch out of beta in November 2021. A difference from other services was that it stored its files using the InterPlanetary File System (IPFS). [14]

Skiff Mail and Skiff Drive were launched in 2022. [15] [16]

In February 2024, Notion acquired Skiff and it is no longer open for registration. All user data will be deleted 6 months after the purchase date, but emails will continue to forward to your new address until February 9th of 2025. [17]

Software

Some of Skiff’s code is source-available with some libraries being open source. [18] [19] Skiff uses public-key authenticated encryption for secure and private access to end-to-end encrypted documents, files and emails. [20] [21] Skiff also allows users to send payments through MetaMask. [22]

Reviews

In a 2023 article, PCMAG reviewed Skiff pointing that Skiff offers "End-to-end encryption for email, collaboration, and calendar", making complements to the fact of its services being free and easy to use (while being available as Apps for macOS, Android, and iOS). [23] Moreover, it also was pointed the "cons" of Skiff services "requiring four separate mobile apps" and having "no encrypted email with nonusers". [23] However, Skiff notably added PGP encryption support in December 2023. [24] [25]

PCMAG's final score review was "4.5/5 Outstanding". [23]

Controversies

According with a WSJ article published in 2023, allegedly the Russian government banned Skiff from Russia, because of Skiff's end-to-end encryption business model, which is illegal in Russia. (And also due to the company's persistence in not handing over users data for the Russian Government, thus allegedly compromising the safety of its citizens). [26] As a result Skiff faced a 81% drop in traffic from Russia, and Andrew Milich itself stated that Skiff's engineers were scrambling to find ways to restore access to Russian users after the occurrence. [26]

Related Research Articles

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The following tables compare general and technical information for a number of notable webmail providers who offer a web interface in English.

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Outlook.com</span> Microsoft webmail service

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sparrow (email client)</span> Email client

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Tresorit is a cloud storage platform that offers functions for administration, storage, synchronization, and transfer of data using end-to-end encryption. More than 13,000 companies use Tresorit to protect confidential data and share information securely. It is also used widely by Government organizations and NGOs as well as privacy-conscious individuals to protect sensitive data from unauthorized access and data-breaches.

Wickr is an American software company based in New York City, known for its instant messenger application with the same name. The Wickr instant messaging apps allow users to exchange end-to-end encrypted and content-expiring messages, and are designed for iOS, Android, Mac, Windows, and Linux operating systems. Wickr was acquired by Amazon Web Services (AWS) mid-2021. They discontinued the free version of the app in December 2023.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mailpile</span>

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Proton Mail</span> End-to-end encrypted email service

Proton Mail is a Swiss end-to-end encrypted email service founded in 2013 headquartered in Plan-les-Ouates, Switzerland. It uses client-side encryption to protect email content and user data before they are sent to Proton Mail servers, unlike other common email providers such as Gmail and Outlook.com. The service can be accessed through a webmail client, the Tor network, Windows, macOS and Linux (beta) desktop apps and iOS and Android apps.

Threema is a paid cross-platform encrypted instant messaging app developed by Threema GmbH in Switzerland and launched in 2012. The service operates on a decentralized architecture and offers end-to-end encryption. Users can make voice and video calls, send photos, files, and voice notes, share locations, and make groups. Unlike many other popular secure messaging apps, Threema does not require phone numbers or email addresses for registration, only a one-time purchase that can be paid via an app store or anonymously with Bitcoin or cash.

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mailfence</span> Encrypted email service

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Proton Pass is a password manager developed by the Swiss software company Proton AG. It stores login credentials, email aliases, credit card data, passkeys, 2FA secret keys, and notes in virtual vaults that are encrypted using 256-bit AES-GCM.

References

  1. ↑ Newman, Jared (June 27, 2022). "I'd love to dump Gmail for this slick, private email–but there's a catch". Fast Company. Retrieved August 12, 2022.
  2. ↑ "Skiff bags $10.5M to build private/collaborative workspaces". TechCrunch. Retrieved August 12, 2022.
  3. ↑ Pierce, David (May 17, 2022). "Skiff Mail is taking on Gmail by betting on privacy — and crypto". The Verge. Retrieved August 12, 2022.
  4. ↑ "Skiff - Private, encrypted, secure email - 10 GB free". skiff.com. Retrieved February 1, 2024.
  5. ↑ "Skiff Banks $10.5M for E2E Encrypted Workplace Collaboration | SecurityWeek.Com". www.securityweek.com. Retrieved August 12, 2022.
  6. ↑ "Skiff's Official Twitter Account". Twitter. November 18, 2023.
  7. ↑ "Skiff - Private, encrypted, secure email - 10 GB free". skiff.com. Retrieved February 10, 2024.
  8. ↑ andrew-skiff (February 9, 2024). "Skiff x Notion". r/Skiff. Retrieved February 10, 2024.
  9. ↑ Mehta, Ivan (February 10, 2024). "Notion acquires privacy-focused productivity platform Skiff". TechCrunch. Retrieved February 11, 2024.
  10. ↑ Kothari, Akshay (February 9, 2024). "Meet Skiff, the newest member of the Notion family". Notion. Retrieved February 11, 2024.
  11. ↑ "Skiff, an end-to-end encrypted alternative to Google Docs, raises $3.7M seed". TechCrunch. Retrieved August 12, 2022.
  12. ↑ "Skiff – Security Whitepaper - Read more". skiff.com. Retrieved February 18, 2024.
  13. ↑ "Skiff Whitepaper" (PDF). Retrieved February 18, 2024.
  14. ↑ Newman, Jared (November 15, 2021). "This privacy-first document editor has a wild new way of storing files". Fast Company. Retrieved August 12, 2022.
  15. ↑ Pierce, David (May 17, 2022). "Skiff Mail is taking on Gmail by betting on privacy — and crypto". The Verge. Retrieved August 12, 2022.
  16. ↑ "10GB de stockage gratuit et chiffré avec Skiff Drive - TOOLinux". www.toolinux.com. June 17, 2022. Retrieved August 12, 2022.
  17. ↑ Mehta, Ivan (February 10, 2024). "Notion acquires privacy-focused productivity platform Skiff". TechCrunch. Retrieved February 12, 2024.
  18. ↑ "Skiff is launching Skiff Mail to take on Gmail with encryption | #emailsecurity | #phishing | #ransomware". NATIONAL CYBER SECURITY NEWS TODAY. May 18, 2022. Retrieved August 12, 2022.
  19. ↑ "skiff-apps/LICENSE at main · skiff-org/skiff-apps". GitHub. Retrieved January 3, 2024.
  20. ↑ Daniel, Alan (May 26, 2021). "Skiff Is Here To Make Work Privacy Great Again". geekinsider.com. Retrieved August 12, 2022.
  21. ↑ "Skiff Review". PCMAG. Retrieved August 12, 2022.
  22. ↑ "Skiff Mail fait concurrence à Gmail en se concentrant sur la confidentialité et la cryptographie" (in French). May 22, 2022. Retrieved August 12, 2022.
  23. 1 2 3 "Skiff Review". PCMAG. Retrieved February 1, 2024.
  24. ↑ "A modernized approach to your PGP encryption". www.skiff.com. June 21, 2024. Retrieved June 21, 2024.
  25. ↑ "Skiff's Official Twitter Account". Twitter. December 18, 2023.
  26. 1 2 "Encryption Bans . . . What Is This, Russia?". The Wall Street Journal. February 3, 2023.
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